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THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


GRADUATES’  EDITION 


VOLUME  19 
THE  CHRONICLES 
OF  AMERICA  SERIES 
ALLEN  JOHNSON 
EDITOR 

GERHARD  R.  LOMER 
CHARLES  W.  JEFFERYS 
ASSISTANT  EDITORS 


4 


/Y>\k.Y} 

BtnisiiV  tl>nomibr5T  orii 


GEORGE  ROGERS  CLARK 

Painting  in  the  Virginia  State  Library,  Richmond,  Virginia. 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 

A  CHRONICLE  OF  THE 
OHIO  VALLEY  AND  BEYOND 
BY  FREDERIC  AUSTIN  OGG 


NEW  HAVEN:  YALE  UNIVERSITY  PRESS 
TORONTO:  GLASGOW,  BROOK  &  CO. 
LONDON:  HUMPHREY  MILFORD 
OXFORD  UNIVERSITY  PRESS 

1920 


BOSTON  COLLEGE 

CHESTNUT  HILL. 


iVlASS. 


phMNMNi 

v  - . 

ns.  a. 

•C55 

V.  (C| 


Copyright ,  1919,  by  Yale  University  Press 


CONTENTS 


I. 

PONTIAC’S  CONSPIRACY 

Page 

1 

II. 

“A  LAIR  OF  WILD  BEASTS” 

44 

20 

m. 

THE  REVOLUTION  BEGINS 

44 

41 

IV. 

THE  CONQUEST  COMPLETED 

44 

57 

V. 

WAYNE,  THE  SCOURGE  OF  THE  INDIANS 

44 

76 

VI. 

THE  GREAT  MIGRATION 

44 

97 

VII. 

PIONEER  DAYS  AND  WAYS  \ 

44 

110 

VIII. 

TECUMSEH 

44 

131 

IX. 

THE  WAR  OF  1812  AND  THE  NEW  WEST 

44 

151 

X. 

SECTIONAL  CROSS  CURRENTS 

44 

172 

XI. 

THE  UPPER  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY 

44 

189 

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTE 

44 

211 

INDEX 

44 

215 

vn 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

GEORGE  ROGERS  CLARK 

Painting  in  the  Virginia  State  Library,  Rich¬ 
mond,  Virginia.  Frontispiece 

THE  OLD  NORTHWEST,  176Q-1836 

Map  by  W.  L.  G.  Joerg,  American  Geographical 

Society.  Facing  page  26 


IX 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


CHAPTER  I 
pontiac’s  conspiracy 

The  fall  of  Montreal,  on  September  8,  1760, 
while  the  plains  about  the  city  were  still  dotted 
with  the  white  tents  of  the  victorious  English  and 
colonial  troops,  was  indeed  an  event  of  the  deepest 
consequence  to  America  and  to  the  world.  By  the 
articles  of  capitulation  which  were  signed  by  the 
Marquis  de  Vaudreuil,  Governor  of  New  France, 
Canada  and  all  its  dependencies  westward  to  the 
Mississippi  passed  to  the  British  Crown.  Virtu¬ 
ally  ended  was  the  long  struggle  for  the  dominion  of 
the  New  World.  Open  now  for  English  occupation 
and  settlement  was  that  vast  country  lying  south  of 
the  Great  Lakes  between  the  Ohio  and  the  Missis¬ 
sippi  —  which  we  know  as  the  Old  Northwest  — 

l 


o 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


today  the  seat  of  five  great  commonwealths  of  the 
United  States. 

With  an  ingenuity  born  of  necessity,  the  French 
pathfinders  and  colonizers  of  the  Old  Northwest 
had  chosen  for  their  settlements  sites  which  would 
serve  at  once  the  purposes  of  the  priest,  the  trader, 
and  the  soldier;  and  with  scarcely  an  exception 
these  sites  are  as  important  today  as  when  they 
were  first  selected.  Four  regions,  chiefly,  were 
still  occupied  by  the  French  at  the  time  of  the  ca¬ 
pitulation  of  Montreal.  The  most  important,  as 
well  as  the  most  distant,  of  these  regions  was  on  the 
east  bank  of  the  Mississippi,  opposite  and  below 
the  present  city  of  St.  Louis,  where  a  cluster  of  mis¬ 
sions,  forts,  and  trading-posts  held  the  center  of 
the  tenuous  line  extending  from  Canada  to  Loui¬ 
siana.  A  second  was  the  Illinois  country,  centering 
about  the  citadel  of  St.  Louis  which  La  Salle  had 
erected  in  1682  on  the  summit  of  “ Starved  Rock,” 
near  the  modern  town  of  Ottawa  in  Illinois.  A 
third  was  the  valley  of  the  Wabash,  where  in  the 
early  years  of  the  eighteenth  century  Vincennes 
had  become  the  seat  of  a  colony  commanding  both 
the  Wabash  and  the  lower  Ohio.  And  the  fourth 
was  the  western  end  of  Lake  Erie,  where  Detroit, 
founded  by  the  doughty  Cadillac  in  1701,  had  as- 


PONTIAC’S  CONSPIRACY 


3 


sumed  such  strength  that  for  fifty  years  it  had  dis¬ 
couraged  the  ambitions  of  the  English  to  make  the 
Northwest  theirs. 

Sir  Jeffrey  Amherst,  to  whom  Vaudreuil  sur¬ 
rendered  in  1760,  forthwith  dispatched  to  the 
western  country  a  military  force  to  take  possession 
of  the  posts  still  remaining  in  the  hands  of  the 
French.  The  mission  was  entrusted  to  a  stalwart 
New  Hampshire  Scotch-Irishman,  Major  Robert 
Rogers,  who  as  leader  of  a  band  of  intrepid 
“rangers”  had  made  himself  the  hero  of  the  north¬ 
ern  frontier.  Two  hundred  men  were  chosen  for 
the  undertaking,  and  on  the  13th  of  September 

_ _  .  —  -y-V 

the  party,  in  fifteen  whaleboats,  started  up  the 
St.  Lawrence  for  Detroit. 

At  the  mouth  of  the  Cuyahoga  River,  near  the 
site  of  the  present  city  of  Cleveland,  the  travelers 
were  halted  by  a  band  of  Indian  chiefs  and  warriors 
who,  in  the  name  of  their  great  ruler  Pontiac,  de¬ 
manded  to  know  the  object  of  their  journeying. 
Parleys  followed,  in  which  Pontiac  himself  took 
part,  and  it  was  explained  that  the  French  had 
surrendered  Canada  to  the  English  and  that  the 
English  merely  proposed  to  assume  control  of  the 
western  posts,  with  a  view  to  friendly  relations  be¬ 
tween  the  red  men  and  the  white  men.  The  rivers. 


4 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


it  was  promised,  would  flow  with  rum,  and  presents 
from  the  great  King  would  be  forthcoming  in  end¬ 
less  profusion.  The  explanation  seemed  to  satisfy 
the  savages,  and,  after  smoking  the  calumet  with 
due  ceremony,  the  chieftain  and  his  followers  with¬ 
drew. 

Late  in  November,  Rogers  and  his  men  in  their 
whaleboats  appeared  before  the  little  palisaded 
town  of  Detroit.  They  found  the  French  com¬ 
mander,  Beletre,  in  surly  humor  and  seeking  to  stir 
up  the  neighboring  Wyandots  and  Potawatomi 
against  them.  But  the  attempt  failed,  and  there 
was  nothing  for  Beletre  to  do  but  yield.  The 
French  soldiery  marched  out  of  the  fort,  laid  down 
their  arms,  and  were  sent  off  as  prisoners  down  the 
river.  The  fleur-de-lis,  which  for  more  than  half  a 
century  had  floated  over  the  village,  was  hauled 
down,  and,  to  the  accompaniment  of  cheers,  the 
British  ensign  was  run  up.  The  red  men  looked  on 
with  amazement  at  this  display  of  English  author¬ 
ity  and  marveled  how  the  conquerors  forbore  to 
slay  their  vanquished  enemies  on  the  spot. 

Detroit  in  1760  was  a  picturesque,  lively,  and 
rapidly  growing  frontier  town.  The  central  por¬ 
tions  of  the  settlement,  lying  within  the  bounds  of 
the  present  city,  contained  ninety  or  a  hundred 


PONTIAC’S  CONSPIRACY 


5 


small  houses,  chiefly  of  wood  and  roofed  with  bark 
or  thatch.  A  well-built  range  of  barracks  afforded 
quarters  for  the  soldiery,  and  there  were  two  pub¬ 
lic  buildings — a  council  house  and  a  little  church. 
The  whole  was  surrounded  by  a  square  palisade 
twenty-five  feet  high,  with  a  wooden  bastion  at 
each  corner  and  a  blockhouse  over  each  gateway. 
A  broad  passageway,  the  chemin  du  ronde ,  lay 
next  to  the  palisade,  and  on  little  narrow  streets 
at  the  center  the  houses  were  grouped  closely 
together. 

Above  and  below  the  fort  the  banks  of  the  river 
were  lined  on  both  sides,  for  a  distance  of  eight  or 
nine  miles,  with  little  rectangular  farms,  so  laid  out 
as  to  give  each  a  water-landing.  On  each  farm  was 
a  cottage,  with  a  garden  and  orchard,  surrounded 
by  a  fence  of  rounded  pickets;  and  the  countryside 
rang  with  the  shouts  and  laughter  of  a  prosperous 
and  happy  peasantry.  Within  the  limits  of  the 
settlement  were  villages  of  Ottawas,  Potawatomi, 
and  Wyandots,  with  whose  inhabitants  the  French 
lived  on  free  and  easy  terms.  “The  joyous  spark¬ 
ling  of  the  bright  blue  water,”  writes  Parkman; 
“the  green  luxuriance  of  the  woods;  the  white 
dwellings,  looking  out  from  the  foliage;  and  in  the 
distance  the  Indian  wigwams  curling  their  smoke 


6 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


against  the  sky — all  were  mingled  in  one  broad 
scene  of  wild  and  rural  beauty.  ” 

At  the  coming  of  the  English  the  French  residents 
were  given  an  opportunity  to  withdraw.  Few, 
however,  did  so,  and  from  the  gossipy  correspon¬ 
dence  of  the  pleasure-loving  Colonel  Campbell,  who 
for  some  months  was  left  in  command  of  the  fort, 
it  appears  that  the  life  of  the  place  lost  none  of  its 
gayety  by  the  change  of  masters.  Sunday  card 
parties  at  the  quarters  of  the  commandant  were 
festive  affairs;  and  at  a  ball  held  in  celebration  of 
the  King’s  birthday  the  ladies  presented  an  appear¬ 
ance  so  splendid  as  to  call  forth  from  the  impres¬ 
sionable  officer  the  most  extravagant  praises.  A 
visit  in  the  summer  of  1761  from  Sir  William  John¬ 
son,  general  supervisor  of  Indian  affairs  on  the 
frontier,  became  the  greatest  social  event  in  the 
history  of  the  settlement,  if  not  of  the  entire  West. 
Colonel  Campbell  gave  a  ball  at  which  the  guests 
danced  nine  hours.  Sir  William  reciprocated  with 
one  'at  which  they  danced  eleven  hours.  A  round 
of  dinners  and  calls  gave  opportunity  for  much  dis¬ 
play  of  frontier  magnificence,  as  well  as  for  the  con¬ 
sumption  of  astonishing  quantities  of  wines  and 
cordials.  Hundreds  of  Indians  were  interested 
spectators,  and  the  gifts  with  which  they  were  gen- 


PONTIAC’S  CONSPIRACY 


7 


erously  showered  were  received  with  evidences  of 
deep  satisfaction. 

No  amount  of  fiddling  and  dancing,  however, 
could  quite  drown  apprehension  concerning  the 
safety  of  the  post  and  the  security  of  the  English 
hold  upon  the  great  region  over  which  this  fort 
and  its  distant  neighbors  stood  sentinel.  Thou¬ 
sands  of  square  miles  of  territory  were  committed 
to  the  keeping  of  not  more  than  six  hundred  sol¬ 
diers.  From  the  French  there  was  little  danger. 
But  from  the  Indians  anything  might  be  expected. 
Apart  from  the  Iroquois,  the  red  men  had  been 
bound  to  the  French  by  many  ties  of  friendship  and 
common  interest,  and  in  the  late  war  they  had 
scalped  and  slaughtered  and  burned  unhesitatingly 
at  the  French  command.  Hardly,  indeed,  had  the 
transfer  of  territorial  sovereignty  been  made  before 
murmurs  of  discontent  began  to  be  heard. 

Notwithstanding  outward  expressions  of  assent 
to  the  new  order  of  things,  a  deep-rooted  dislike 
on  the  part  of  the  Indians  for  the  English  grew 
after  1760  with  great  rapidity.  They  sorely  missed 
the  gifts  and  supplies  lavishly  provided  by  the 
French,  and  they  warmly  resented  the  rapacity 
and  arrogance  of  the  British  traders.  The  open 
contempt  of  the  soldiery  at  the  posts  galled  the 


8  THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 

Indians,  and  the  confiscation  of  their  lands  drove 
them  to  desperation.  In  their  hearts  hope  never 
died  that  the  French  would  regain  their  lost  domin¬ 
ion;  and  again  and  again  rumors  were  set  afloat 
that  this  was  about  to  happen.  The  belief  in  such 
a  reconquest  was  adroitly  encouraged,  too,  by  the 
surviving  French  settlers  and  traders.  In  1761 
the  tension  among  the  Indians  was  increased  by  the 
appearance  of  a  “prophet”  among  the  Delawares, 
calling  on  all  his  race  to  purge  itself  of  foreign  in¬ 
fluences  and  to  unite  to  drive  the  white  man  from 
the  land. 

Protests  against  English  encroachments  were 
frequent  and,  though  respectful,  none  the  less  em¬ 
phatic.  At  a  conference  in  Philadelphia  in  1761, 
an  Iroquois  sachem  declared,  “We,  your  Brethren, 
of  the  several  Nations,  are  penned  up  like  Hoggs. 
There  are  Forts  all  around  us,  and  therefore  we  are 
apprehensive  that  Death  is  coming  upon  us.  ”  “We 
are  now  left  in  Peace,”  ran  a  petition  of  some 
Christian  Oneidas  addressed  to  Sir  William  John¬ 
son,  “and  have  nothing  to  do  but  to  plant  our 
Corn,  Hunt  the  wild  Beasts,  smoke  our  Pipes,  and 
mind  Religion.  But  as  these  Forts,  which  are  built 
among  us,  disturb  our  Peace,  and  are  a  great  hurt 
to  Religion,  because  some  of  our  Warriors  are 


PONTIAC’S  CONSPIRACY  9 

foolish,  and  some  of  our  Brother  Soldiers  don’t  fear 
God,  we  therefore  desire  that  these  Forts  may  be 
pull’d  down,  and  kick’d  out  of  the  way.” 

The  leadership  of  the  great  revolt  that  was  im¬ 
pending  fell  naturally  upon  Pontiac,  who,  since 
the  coming  of  the  English,  had  established  himself 
with  his  squaws  and  children  on  a  wooded  island  in 
Lake  St.  Clair,  barely  out  of  view  of  the  fortifica¬ 
tions  of  Detroit.  In  all  Indian  annals  no  name 
is  more  illustrious  than  Pontiac’s;  no  figure  more 
forcefully  displays  the  good  and  bad  qualities  of  his 
race.  Principal  chief  of  the  Ottawa  tribe,  he  was. 
also  by  1763  the  head  of  a  powerful  confederation 
of  Ottawas,  Ojibwas,  and  Potawatomi,  and  a  leader 
known  and  respected  among  Algonquin  peoples 
from  the  sources  of  the  Ohio  to  the  Mississippi. 
While  capable  of  acts  of  magnanimity,  he  had 
an  ambition  of  Napoleonic  proportions,  and  to  at¬ 
tain  his  ends  he  was  prepared  to  use  any  means. 
More  clearly  than  most  of  his  forest  contempora¬ 
ries,  he  perceived  that  in  the  life  of  the  Indian 
people  a  crisis  had  come.  He  saw  that,  unless  the 
tide  of  English  invasion  was  rolled  back  at  once, 
all  would  be  lost.  The  colonial  farmers  would 
push  in  after  the  soldiers;  the  forests  would  be  cut 
away;  the  hunting-grounds  would  be  destroyed; 


10 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


the  native  population  would  be  driven  away  or 
enslaved.  In  the  silence  of  his  wigwam  he  thought 
out  a  plan  of  action,  and  by  the  closing  weeks  of 
1762  he  was  ready.  Never  was  plot  more  shrewdly 
devised  and  more  artfully  carried  out. 

During  the  winter  of  1762-63  his  messengers 
passed  stealthily  from  nation  to  nation  throughout 
the  whole  western  country,  bearing  the  pictured 
wampum  belts  and  the  reddened  tomahawks 
which  symbolized  war;  and  in  April,  1763,  the 
Lake  tribes  were  summoned  to  a  great  council  on 
the  banks  of  the  Ecorces,  below  Detroit,  where 
Pontiac  in  person  proclaimed  the  will  of  the  Master 
of  Life  as  revealed  to  the  Delaware  prophet,  and 
then  announced  the  details  of  his  plan.  Every¬ 
where  thp  appeal  met  with  approval;  and  not  only 
the  scores  of  Algonquin  peoples,  but  also  the  Seneca 
branch  of  the  Iroquois  confederacy  and  a  number 
of  tribes  on  the  lower  Mississippi,  pledged  them¬ 
selves  with  all  solemnity  to  fulfill  their  prophet’s 
injunction  “to  drive  the  dogs  which  wear  red  cloth¬ 
ing  into  the  sea.  ”  While  keen-eyed  warriors 
sought  to  keep  up  appearances  by  lounging  about 
the  forts  and  begging  in  their  customary  manner 
for  tobacco,  whiskey,  and  gunpowder,  every  wig¬ 
wam  and  forest  hamlet  from  Niagara  to  the  Missis- 


PONTIAC’S  CONSPIRACY 


11 


sippi  was  astir.  Dusky  maidens  chanted  the  tribal 
war-songs,  and  in  the  blaze  of  a  hundred  camp-fires 
chiefs  and  warriors  performed  the  savage  pan¬ 
tomime  of  battle. 

A  simultaneous  attack,  timed  by  a  change  of  the 
moon,  was  to  be  made  on  the  English  forts  and 
settlements  throughout  all  the  western  country. 
Every  tribe  was  to  fall  upon  the  settlement  nearest 
at  hand,  and  afterwards  all  were  to  combine  — 
with  French  aid,  it  was  confidently  believed  —  in 
an  assault  on  the  seats  of  English  power  farther 
east.  The  honor  of  destroying  the  most  important 
of  the  English  strongholds,  Detroit,  was  reserved 
for  Pontiac  himself. 

The  date  fixed  for  the  rising  was  the  7th  of  May.  / 
Six  days  in  advance  Pontiac  with  forty  of  his  war¬ 
riors  appeared  at  the  fort,  protested  undying 
friendship  for  the  Great  Father  across  the  water, 
and  insisted  on  performing  the  calumet  dance 
before  the  new  commandant,  Major  Gladwyn. 
This  aroused  no  suspicion.  But  four  days  later  a 
French  settler  reported  that  his  wife,  when  visiting 
the  Ottawa  village  to  buy  venison,  had  observed 
the  men  busily  filing  off  the  ends  of  their  gun- 
barrels;  and  the  blacksmith  at  the  post  recalled 
the  fact  that  the  Indians  had  lately  sought  to 


12 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


borrow  files  and  saws  without  being  able  to  give  a 
plausible  explanation  of  the  use  they  intended  to 
make  of  the  implements. 

The  English  traveler  Jonathan  Carver,  who 
visited  the  post  five  years  afterwards,  relates  that 
an  Ottawa  girl  with  whom  Major  Gladwyn  had 
formed  an  attachment  betrayed  the  plot.  Though 
this  story  is  of  doubtful  authenticity,  there  is  no 
doubt  that,  in  one  way  or  another,  the  command¬ 
ant  was  amply  warned  that  treachery  was  in  the 
air.  The  sounds  of  revelry  from  the  Indian  camps, 
the  furtive  glances  of  the  redskins  lounging  about 
the  settlement,  the  very  tension  of  the  atmosphere, 
would  have  been  enough  to  put  an  experienced  In¬ 
dian  fighter  on  his  guard. 

Accordingly  when,  on  the  fated  morning,  Pon¬ 
tiac  and  sixty  redskins,  carrying  under  long  blan¬ 
kets  their  shortened  muskets,  appeared  before  the 
fort  and  asked  admission,  they  were  taken  aback 
to  find  the  whole  garrison  under  arms.  On  their 
way  from  the  gate  to  the  council  house  they  were 
obliged  to  march  literally  between  rows  of  glitter¬ 
ing  steel.  Well  might  even  Pontiac  falter.  With 
uneasy  glances,  the  party  crowded  into  the  council 
room,  where  Gladwyn  and  his  officers  sat  waiting. 
“Why,”  asked  the  chieftain  stolidly,  “do  I  see  so 


PONTIAC’S  CONSPIRACY 


13 


many  of  my  father’s  young  men  standing  in  the 
street  with  their  guns? ”  “To  keep  them  in  train¬ 
ing,  ”  was  the  laconic  reply. 

The  scene  that  was  planned  was  then  carried 
out,  except  in  one  vital  particular.  When,  in  the 
course  of  his  speech  professing  strong  attachment 
to  the  English,  the  chieftain  came  to  the  point 
where  he  was  to  give  the  signal  for  slaughter  by 
holding  forth  the  wampum  belt  of  peace  inverted, 
he  presented  the  emblem  —  to  the  accompaniment 
of  a  significant  clash  of  arms  and  roll  of  drums 
from  the  mustered  garrison  outside  —  in  the  nor¬ 
mal  manner;  and  after  a  solemn  warning  from  the 
commandant  that  vengeance  would  follow  any 
act  of  aggression,  the  council  broke  up.  To  the 
forest  leader’s  equivocal  announcement  that  he 
would  bring  all  of  his  wives  and  children  in  a  few 
days  to  shake  hands  with  their  English  fathers, 
Gladwyn  deigned  no  reply. 

Balked  in  his  plans,  the  chief  retired,  but  only  to 
meditate  fresh  treachery;  and  when,  a  few  days 
later,  with  a  multitude  of  followers,  he  sought 
admission  to  the  fort  to  assure  “his  fathers”  that 
“evil  birds  had  sung  lies  in  their  ears,”  and  was 
refused,  he  called  all  his  forces  to  arms,  threw  off  his 
disguises,  and  began  hostilities.  For  six  months 


14 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


the  settlement  was  besieged  with  a  persistence 
rarely  displayed  in  Indian  warfare.  At  first  the 
French  inhabitants  encouraged  the  besiegers,  but, 
after  it  became  known  that  a  final  peace  between 
England  and  France  had  been  concluded,  they 
withheld  further  aid.  Throughout  the  whole  pe¬ 
riod,  the  English  obtained  supplies  with  no  great 
difficulty  from  the  neighboring  farms.  There  was 
little  actual  fighting,  and  the  loss  of  life  was  insig¬ 
nificant. 

By  order  of  General  Amherst,  the  French  com¬ 
mander  still  in  charge  of  Fort  Chartres  sent  a  mes¬ 
senger  to  inform  the  redskins  definitely  that  no 
assistance  from  France  would  be  forthcoming. 
“Forget  then,  my  dear  children,  ”  —  so  ran  the  ad¬ 
monition  —  “all  evil  talks.  Leave  off  from  spilling 
the  blood  of  your  brethren,  the  English.  Our  hearts 
are  now  but  one;  you  cannot,  at  present,  strike  the 
one  without  having  the  other  for  an  enemy  also.  ” 
The  effect  was,  as  intended,  to  break  the  spirit  of 
the  besiegers;  and  in  October  Pontiac  humbly  sued 
for  peace. 

Meanwhile  a  reign  of  terror  spread  over  the 
entire  frontier.  Settlements  from  Forts  Le  Bceuf 
and  Venango,  south  of  Lake  Erie,  to  Green  Bay, 
west  of  Lake  Michigan,  were  attacked,  and  ruses 


v 


PONTIAC’S  CONSPIRACY 


15 


similar  to  that  attempted  at  Detroit  were  generally 
successful.  A  few  Indians  in  friendly  guise  would 
approach  a  fort.  After  these  were  admitted, 
others  would  appear,  as  if  quite  by  chance.  Fi¬ 
nally,  when  numbers  wrere  sufficient,  the  conspira¬ 
tors  w^ould  draw  their  concealed  weapons,  strike 
down  the  garrison,  and  begin  a  general  massacre  of 
the  helpless  populace.  Scores  of  pioneer  families, 
scattered  through  the  wilderness,  were  murdered 
and  scalped;  traders  were  waylaid  in  the  forest 
solitudes;  border  towns  were  burned  and  planta¬ 
tions  were  devastated.  In  the  Ohio  Valley  every¬ 
thing  was  lost  except  Fort  Pitt,  formerly  Fort 
Duquesne;  in  the  Northwest,  everything  was  taken 
except  Detroit. 

Fort  Pitt  was  repeatedly  endangered,  and  the 
most  important  engagement  of  the  war  was  fought 
in  its  defense.  The  relief  of  the  post  was  entrusted 
in  midsummer  to  a  force  of  five  hundred  regulars 
lately  transferred  from  the  West  Indies  to  Pennsyl¬ 
vania  and  placed  under  the  command  of  Colonel 
Henry  Bouquet.  The  expedition  advanced  with 
all  possible  caution,  but  early  in  August,  1763, 
when  it  was  yet  twenty-five  miles  from  its  destina¬ 
tion,  it  was  set  upon  by  a  formidable  Indian  band 
at  Bushy  Run  and  threatened  with  a  fate  not  un- 


16 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


like  that  suffered  by  Braddock’s  little  army  in  the 
same  region  nine  years  earlier.  Finding  the  woods 
full  of  redskins  and  all  retreat  cut  off,  the  troops, 
drawn  up  in  a  circle  around  their  horses  and  sup¬ 
plies,  fired  with  such  effect  as  they  could  upon  the 
shadowy  forms  in  the  forest.  No  water  was  ob¬ 
tainable,  and  in  a  few  hours  thirst  began  to  make 
the  soldiery  unmanageable.  Realizing  that  the 
situation  was  desperate.  Bouquet  resorted  to  a  ruse 
by  ordering  his  men  to  fall  back  as  if  in  retreat. 
The  trick  succeeded,  and  with  yells  of  victory  the 
Indians  rushed  from  cover  to  seize  the  coveted  pro¬ 
visions  —  only  to  be  met  by  a  deadly  fire  and  put 
to  utter  rout.  The  news  of  the  battle  of  Bushy 
Run  spread  rapidly  through  the  frontier  regions 
and  proved  very  effective  in  discouraging  further 
hostilities. 

It  was  Bouquet’s  intention  to  press  forward  at 
once  from  Fort  Pitt  into  the  disturbed  Ohio  coun¬ 
try.  His  losses,  however,  compelled  the  postpone¬ 
ment  of  this  part  of  the  undertaking  until  the  fol¬ 
lowing  year.  Before  he  started  off  again  he  built 
at  Fort  Pitt  a  blockhouse  which  still  stands,  and 
which  has  been  preserved  for  posterity  by  becom¬ 
ing,  in  1894,  the  property  of  the  Pittsburgh  chapter 
of  the  Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution.  In 


PONTIAC’S  CONSPIRACY 


17 


October,  1764,  he  set  out  for  the  Muskingum  valley 
with  a  force  of  fifteen  hundred  regulars,  Pennsyl¬ 
vania  and  Virginia  volunteers,  and  friendly  In¬ 
dians.  By  this  time  the  great  conspiracy  was  in 
collapse,  and  it  was  a  matter  of  no  great  difficulty 
for  Bouquet  to  enter  into  friendly  relations  with  the 
successive  tribes,  to  obtain  treaties  with  them,  and 
to  procure  the  release  of  such  English  captives  as 
were  still  in  their  hands.  By  the  close  of  Novem¬ 
ber,  1764,  the  work  was  complete,  and  Bouquet 
was  back  at  Fort  Pitt.  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia 
honored  him  with  votes  of  thanks;  the  King  for¬ 
mally  expressed  his  gratitude  and  tendered  him 
the  military  governorship  of  the  newly  acquired 
territory  of  Florida. 

The  general  pacification  of  the  Northwest  was 
accomplished  by  treaties  with  the  natives  in  great 
councils  held  at  Niagara,  Presqu’isle  (Erie),  and 
Detroit.  Pontiac  had  fled  to  the  Maumee  country 
to  the  west  of  Lake  Erie,  whence  he  still  hurled 
his  ineffectual  threats  at  the  “dogs  in  red.”  His 
powTer,  however,  was  broken.  The  most  he  could 
do  was  to  gather  four  hundred  warriors  on  the 
Maumee  and  Illinois  and  present  himself  at  Fort 
Chartres  with  a  demand  for  weapons  and  ammuni¬ 
tion  with  which  to  keep  up  the  war.  The  French 


18 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


commander,  who  was  now  daily  awaiting  orders  to 
turn  the  fortress  over  to  the  English,  refused;  and  a 
deputation  dispatched  to  New  Orleans  in  quest  of 
the  desired  equipment  received  no  reply  save  that 
New  Orleans  itself,  with  all  the  country  west  of  the 
river,  had  been  ceded  to  Spain.  The  futility  of 
further  resistance  on  the  part  of  Pontiac  was  ap¬ 
parent.  In  1765  the  disappointed  chieftain  gave 
pledges  of  friendship;  and  in  the  following  year 
he  and  other  leaders  made  a  formal  submission  to 
Sir  William  Johnson  at  Oswego,  and  Pontiac  re¬ 
nounced  forever  the  bold  design  to  make  himself  at 
a  stroke  lord  of  the  West  and  deliverer  of  his  coun¬ 
try  from  English  domination. 

For  three  years  the  movements  of  this  disap¬ 
pointed  Indian  leader  are  uncertain.  Most  of  the 
time,  apparently,  he  dwelt  in  the  Maumee  country, 
leading  the  existence  of  an  ordinary  warrior.  Then, 
in  the  spring  of  1769,  he  appeared  at  the  settlements 
on  the  middle  Mississippi.  At  the  newly  founded 
French  town  of  St.  Louis,  on  the  Spanish  side  of 
the  river,  he  visited  an  old  friend,  the  command¬ 
ant  Saint  Ange  de  Bellerive.  Thence  he  crossed  to 
Cahokia,  where  Indian  and  creole  alike  welcomed 
him  and  made  him  the  central  figure  in  a  series 
of  boisterous  festivities. 


PONTIAC’S  CONSPIRACY 


19 


An  English  trader  in  the  village,  observing  jeal¬ 
ously  the  honors  that  were  paid  the  visitor,  resolved 
that  an  old  score  should  forthwith  be  evened  up. 
A  Kaskaskian  redskin  was  bribed,  with  a  barrel  of 
liquor  and  with  promises  of  further  reward,  to  put 
the  fallen  leader  out  of  the  way;  and  the  bargain 
was  hardly  sealed  before  the  deed  was  done.  Steal¬ 
ing  upon  his  victim  as  he  walked  in  the  neighboring 
forest,  the  assassin  buried  a  tomahawk  in  his  brain, 
and  “thus  basely, ”  in  the  words  of  Parkman,  “per¬ 
ished  the  champion  of  a  ruined  race.”  Claimed 
by  Saint-Ange,  the  body  was  borne  across  the  river 
and  buried  with  military  honors  near  the  new  Fort 
St.  Louis.  The  site  of  Pontiac’s  grave  was  soon 
forgotten,  and  today  the  people  of  a  great  city 
trample  over  and  about  it  without  heed. 


CHAPTER  II 


“a  lair  of  wild  beasts” 

Benjamin  Franklin,  who  was  in  London  in  1760  as 
agent  of  the  Pennsylvania  Assembly,  gave  the  Brit¬ 
ish  ministers  some  wholesome  advice  on  the  terms 
of  the  peace  that  should  be  made  with  France.  The 
St.  Lawrence  and  the  Great  Lakes  regions,  he  said, 
must  be  retained  by  England  at  all  costs.  More¬ 
over,  the  Mississippi  Valley  must  be  taken,  in  order 
to  provide  for  the  growing  populations  of  the  sea¬ 
board  colonies  suitable  lands  in  the  interior,  and 
so  keep  them  engaged  in  agriculture.  Otherwise 
these  populations  would  turn  to  manufacturing, 
and  the  industries  of  the  mother  country  would 
suffer. 

The  treaty  of  peace,  three  years  later,  brought 

the  settlement  which  Franklin  suggested.  The  vast 

American  back  country,  with  its  inviting  rivers 

and  lakes,  its  shaded  hills,  and  its  sunny  prairies, 

became  English  territory.  The  English  people  had, 

20 


“A  LAIR  OF  WILD  BEASTS” 


21 


however,  only  the  vaguest  notion  of  the  extent, 
appearance,  and  resources  of  their  new  possession. 
Even  the  officials  who  drew  the  treaty  were  as  ig¬ 
norant  of  the  country  as  of  middle  Africa.  Prior 
to  the  outbreak  of  the  war  no  widely  known  Eng¬ 
lish  writer  had  tried  to  describe  it;  and  the  absorb¬ 
ing  French  books  of  Lahontan,  Hennepin,  and 
Charlevoix  had  reached  but  a  small  circle.  The 
prolonged  conflict  in  America  naturally  stimulated 
interest  in  the  new  country.  The  place-names  of 
the  upper  Ohio  became  household  words,  and  en¬ 
terprising  publishers  put  out  not  only  translations 
of  the  French  writers  but  compilations  by  English¬ 
men  designed,  in  true  journalistic  fashion,  to  meet 
the  demands  of  the  hour  for  information. 

These  publications  displayed  amazing  miscon¬ 
ceptions  of  the  lands  described.  They  neither  es¬ 
timated  aright  the  number  and  strength  of  the 
French  settlements  nor  dispelled  the  idea  that  the 
western  country  was  of  little  value.  Even  the  most 
brilliant  Englishman  of  the  day,  Dr.  Samuel  John¬ 
son,  an  ardent  defender  of  the  treaty  of  1763,  wrote 
that  the  large  tracts  of  America  added  by  the  war 
to  the  British  dominions  were  “only  the  barren 
parts  of  the  continent,  the  refuse  of  the  earlier  ad¬ 
venturers,  which  the  French,  who  came  last,  had 


22 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


taken  only  as  better  than  nothing.  ”  As  late  indeed 
as  1789,  William  Knox,  long  Under-Secretary  for 
the  Colonies,  declared  that  Americans  could  not 
settle  the  western  territory  “for  ages,  ”  and  that  the 
region  must  be  given  up  to  barbarism  like  the  plains 
of  Asia,  with  a  population  as  unstable  as  the  Scy¬ 
thians  and  Tartars.  But  the  shortsightedness  of 
these  distant  critics  can  be  forgiven  when  one  re¬ 
calls  that  Franklin  himself,  while  conjuring  up  a 
splendid  vision  of  the  western  valleys  teeming  with 
a  thriving  population,  supposed  that  the  dream 
would  not  be  realized  for  “some  centuries.  ”  None 
of  these  observers  dreamt  that  the  territories  trans¬ 
ferred  in  1763  would  have  within  seventy-five 
years  a  population  almost  equal  to  that  of  Great 
Britain. 

The  ink  with  which  the  Treaty  of  Paris  was 
signed  was  hardly  dry  before  the  King  and  his 
ministers  were  confronted  with  the  task  of  provid¬ 
ing  government  for  the  new  possessions  and  of  solv¬ 
ing  problems  of  land  tenure  and  trade.  Still  more 
imperative  were  measures  to  conciliate  the  Indians; 
for  already  Pontiac’s  rebellion  had  been  in  progress 
four  months,  and  the  entire  back  country  was 
aflame.  It  must  be  confessed  that  a  continental 
wilderness  swarming  with  murderous  savages  was 


“A  LAIR  OF  WILD  BEASTS” 


23 


an  inheritance  whose  aspect  was  by  no  means  alto¬ 
gether  pleasing  to  the  English  mind. 

The  easiest  solution  of  the  difficulty  was  to  let 
things  take  their  course.  Let  seaboard  popula¬ 
tions  spread  at  will  over  the  new  lands;  let  them 
carry  on  trade  in  their  own  way,  and  make  what¬ 
ever  arrangements  with  the  native  tribes  they  de¬ 
sire.  Cplonies  such  as  Virginia  and  New  York, 
which  had  extensive  western  claims,  would  have 
been  glad  to  see  this  plan  adopted.  Strong  objec¬ 
tions,  however,  were  raised.  Colonies  which  had 
no  western  claims  feared  the  effects  of  the  advan¬ 
tages  which  their  more  fortunate  neighbors  would 
enjoy.  Men  who  had  invested  heavily  in  lands 
lying  west  of  the  mountains  felt  that  their  returns 
would  be  diminished  and  delayed  if  the  back  coun¬ 
try  were  thrown  open  to  settlers.  Some  people 
thought  that  the  Indians  had  a  moral  right  to  pro¬ 
tection  against  wholesale  white  invasion  of  their 
hunting-grounds,  and  many  considered  it  expedi¬ 
ent,  at  all  events,  to  offer  such  protection. 

After  all,  however,  it  was  the  King  and  his  min¬ 
isters  who  had  it  in  their  power  to  settle  the  ques¬ 
tion;  and  from  their  point  of  view  it  was  desirable 
to  keep  the  western  territories  as  much  as  possi¬ 
ble  apart  from  the  older  colonies,  and  to  regulate. 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


24 

with  farsighted  policy,  their  settlement  and  trade. 
Eventually,  it  was  believed,  the  territories  would 
be  cut  into  new  colonies;  and  experience  with  the 
seaboard  dependencies  was  already  such  as  to  sug¬ 
gest  the  desirability  of  having  the  future  settle¬ 
ments  more  completely  under  government  control 
from  the  beginning. 

After  due  consideration,  King  George  and  his 
ministers  made  known  their  policy  on  October  7, 
1763,  in  a  comprehensive  proclamation.  The  first 
subject  dealt  with  was  government.  Four  new 
provinces  —  “Quebec,  East  Florida,  West  Florida, 
and  Grenada’’1  —  were  set  up  in  the  ceded  terri¬ 
tories,  and  their  populations  were  guaranteed  all 
the  rights  and  privileges  enjoyed  by  the  inhabitants 
of  the  older  colonies.  The  Mississippi  Valley,  how¬ 
ever,  was  included  in  no  one  of  these  provinces; 
and,  curiously,  there  was  no  provision  whatever  for 
the  government  of  the  French  settlements  lying 


1  The  Proclamation  of  1763  Irew  the  boundaries  of  “four  distinct 
and  separate  governments.”  Grenada  was  to  include  the  island  of 
that  name,  together  with  the  Grenadines,  Dominico,  St.  Vincent,  and 
Tobago.  The  Floridas  lay  south  of  the  bounds  of  Georgia  and  east 
of  the  Mississippi  River.  The  Apalachicola  River  was  to  be  the 
dividing  line  between  East  and  West  Florida.  Quebec  included  the 
modern  province  of  that  name  and  that  part  of  Ontario  lying  north 
of  a  line  drawn  from  Lake  Nipissing  to  the  point  where  the  forty-fifth 
parallel  intersects  the  St.  Lawrence  River. 


“A  LAIR  OF  WILD  BEASTS”  25 

within  it.  The  number  and  size  of  these  settle¬ 
ments  were  underestimated,  and  apparently  it  was 
supposed  that  all  the  habitants  and  soldiers  would 
avail  themselves  of  their  privilege  of  withdrawing 
from  the  ceded  territories. 

The  disposition  made  of  the  great  rectangular 
area  bounded  by  the  Alleghanies,  the  Mississippi, 
the  Lakes,  and  the  Gulf,  was  fairly  startling.  With 
fine  disregard  of  the  chartered  claims  of  the  sea¬ 
board  colonies  and  of  the  rights  of  pioneers  already 
settled  on  frontier  farms,  the  whole  was  erected  into 
an  Indian  reserve.  No  “loving  subject”  might 
purchase  land  or  settle  in  the  territory  without 
special  license;  present  residents  should  “forthwith 
remove  themselves”;  trade  should  be  carried  on 
only  by  permit  and  under  close  surveillance;  offi¬ 
cers  were  to  be  stationed  among  the  tribes  to  pre¬ 
serve  friendly  relations  and  to  apprehend  fugitives 
from  colonial  justice. 

The  objects  of  this  drastic  scheme  were  never 
clearly  stated.  Franklin  believed  that  the  main 
purpose  was  to  conciliate  the  Indians.  Washing¬ 
ton  agreed  with  him.  Later  historians  have  gener¬ 
ally  thought  that  what  the  English  Government 
had  chiefly  in  mind  was  to  limit  the  bounds  of  the 
seaboard  colonies,  with  a  view  to  preserving  im- 


26 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


perial  control  over  colonial  affairs.  Very  likely 
both  of  these  motives  weighed  heavily  in  the  de¬ 
cision.  At  all  events,  Lord  Hillsborough,  who  pre¬ 
sided  over  the  meetings  of  the  Lords  of  Trade  when 
the  proclamation  was  discussed,  subsequently 
wrote  that  the  “capital  object”  of  the  Govern¬ 
ment’s  policy  was  to  confine  the  colonies  so  that 
they  should  be  kept  in  easy  reach  of  British  trade 
and  of  the  authority  necessary  to  keep  them  in  due 
subordination  to  the  mother  country,  and  he  added 
that  the  extension  of  the  fur  trade  depended  “en¬ 
tirely  upon  the  Indians  being  undisturbed  in  the 
possession  of  their  hunting-grounds.  ” 1 

It  does  not  follow  that  the  King  and  his  advisers 
intended  that  the  territory  should  be  kept  forever 
intact  as  a  forest  preserve.  They  seem  to  have 
contemplated  that,  from  time  to  time,  cessions 
would  be  secured  from  the  Indians  and  tracts 
would  be  opened  for  settlement.  But  every  move 
was  to  be  made  in  accordance  with  plans  formu¬ 
lated  or  authorized  in  England.  The  restrictive 
policy  won  by  no  means  universal  assent  in  the 
mother  country.  The  Whigs  generally  opposed  it, 

1  But  as  Lord  Hillsborough  had  just  taken  office  and  adopted 
bodily  a  policy  formulated  by  his  predecessor,  he  is  none  too  good 
an  authority.  See  Alvord’s  Mississippi  Valley  in  British  Politics , 
vol.  i,  pp.  203-1. 


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ISIS''  t. fl  M  ..,7 


reenvii 


Springfield 


'lianapolin 


Balt  im  or 


Ft.Ifarrii 

/(  Terre  tout 


i^VGhillicotlie 
.oHanti  villc  1 

K  Cincinnati.  1788 )  S 
%rt. Washington  i 789*1 


TERRITORIAL  DEVELOPMENT 


audalia 


Proclamation  Line  of  1763 
(landward  boundary  of  the 
Thirteen  Colonies) 

Boundary  of  the  extended  Province 
of  Quebec  by  the  Act  of  1774 
Between  the  two,  Crown  Lands 
reserved  for  Indians 

..  —  Boundary  of  the  United  States  8 

according  to  Treaty  of  1783 
Northwest  Territory,  organized  in  1787 


ineei 


Lexington 


llarrodshurg 


JULIUS  EIEN  LIT!-).  N.V. 


P3Ef>Aftt'D  FOR  THE  CHRONICLES  OF  AMERICA  UNDER  THE 
C'RECTiON  OF  Ij  L.  G  JOERG.  AMERICAN  GEOGRAPHICAL  SOCIETY 


• '  .  1  -  ,  ^  •-*.  v-  ^ 


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“A  LAIR  OF  WILD  BEASTS” 


27 


and  Burke  thundered  against  it  as  “an  attempt  to 
keep  as  a  lair  of  wild  beasts  that  earth  which  God, 
by  an  express  charter,  has  given  to  the  children  of 
men.  ” 

In  America  there  was  a  disposition  to  take  the 
proclamation  lightly  as  being  a  mere  sop  to  the 
Indians.  But  wherever  it  was  regarded  seriously, 
it  was  hotly  resented.  After  passing  through  an 
arduous  war,  the  colonists  were  ready  to  enter  upon 
a  new  expansive  era.  The  western  territories  were 
theirs  by  charter,  by  settlement,  and  by  conquest. 
The  Indian  population,  they  believed,  belonged  to 
the  unprogressive  and  unproductive  peoples  of  the 
earth.  Every  acre  of  fertile  soil  in  America  called 
to  the  thrifty  agriculturist;  every  westward  flow¬ 
ing  river  invited  to  trade  and  settlement  —  as  well, 
therefore,  seek  to  keep  back  the  ocean  with  a  broom 
as  to  stop  by  mere  decree  the  tide  of  homeseekers. 
Some  of  the  colonies  made  honest  attempts  to  com¬ 
pel  the  removal  of  settlers  from  the  reserved  lands 
beyond  their  borders,  and  Pennsylvania  went  so  far 
as  to  decree  the  death  penalty  for  all  who  should 
refuse  to  remove.  But  the  law  was  never  enforced. 

The  news  of  the  cession  of  the  eastern  bank  of  the 
Mississippi  to  the  English  brought  consternation  to 


28 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


the  two  or  three  thousand  French  people  living  in 
the  settlements  of  the  Kaskaskia,  Illinois,  and  Wa¬ 
bash  regions.  The  transfer  of  the  western  bank  to 
Spain  did  not  become  known  promptly,  and  for 
months  the  habitants  supposed  that  by  taking  up 
their  abode  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  stream  they 
would  continue  under  their  own  flag.  Many  of 
them  crossed  the  Mississippi  to  find  new  abodes 
even  after  it  was  announced  that  the  land  had 
passed  to  Spain. 

From  first  to  last  these  settlements  on  the 
Mississippi,  the  Wabash,  and  the  Illinois  had  re¬ 
mained,  in  French  hands,  mere  sprawling  villages. 
The  largest  of  them,  Kaskaskia,  may  have  con¬ 
tained  in  its  most  flourishing  days  two  thousand 
people,  many  of  them  voyageurs,  coureurs-de-bois> 
converted  Indians,  and  transients  of  one  sort  or 
another.  In  1765  there  were  not  above  seventy 
permanent  families.  Few  of  the  towns,  indeed, 
attained  a  population  of  more  than  twro  or  three 
hundred.  All  French  colonial  enterprise  had  been 
based  on  the  assumption  that  settlers  wTould  be 
few.  The  trader  preferred  it  so,  because  settle¬ 
ments  meant  restrictions  upon  his  traffic.  The 
Jesuit  was  of  the  same  mind,  because  such  settle¬ 
ments  broke  up  his  mission  field.  The  Government 


“A  LAIR  OF  WILD  BEASTS” 


29 


at  Paris  forbade  the  emigration  of  the  one  class  of 
people  that  cared  to  emigrate,  the  Huguenots. 

Though  some  of  the  settlements  had  picturesque 
sites  and  others  drew  distinction  from  their  for¬ 
tifications,  in  general  they  presented  a  drab  ap¬ 
pearance.  There  were  usually  two  or  three  long, 
narrow7  streets,  with  no  paving,  and  often  knee- 
deep  with  mud.  The  houses  were  built  on  either 
side,  at  intervals  sufficient  to  give  space  for  yards 
and  garden  plots,  each  homestead  being  enclosed 
with  a  crude  picket  fence.  Wood  and  thatch  were 
the  commonest  building  materials,  although  stone 
was  sometimes  used;  and  the  houses  were  regularly 
one  story  high,  with  large  vine-covered  verandas. 
Land  was  abundant  and  cheap.  Every  enterpris¬ 
ing  settler  had  a  plot  for  himself,  and  as  a  rule 
one  large  field,  or  more,  was  held  for  use  in  com¬ 
mon.  In  these,  the  operations  of  ploughing,  sow¬ 
ing,  and  reaping  were  carefully  regulated  by  pub¬ 
lic  ordinance.  Occasionally  a  village  drew  some 
distinction  from  the  proximity  of  a  large,  well- 
managed  estate,  such  as  that  of  the  opulent  M. 
Beauvais  of  Kaskaskia,  in  whose  mill  and  brewery 
more  than  eighty  slaves  were  employed. 

Agriculture  was  carried  on  somewhat  exten¬ 
sively,  and  it  is  recorded  that,  in  the  year  1746 


30 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


alone,  when  there  was  a  shortage  of  foodstuffs  at 
New  Orleans,  the  Illinois  settlers  were  able  to  send 
thither  “upward  of  eight  hundred  thousand  weight 
of  flour.  ”  Hunting  and  trading,  however,  con¬ 
tinued  to  be  the  principal  occupations;  and  the 
sugar,  indigo,  cotton,  and  other  luxuries  which  the 
people  were  able  to  import  directly  from  Europe 
were  paid  for  mainly  with  consignments  of  furs, 
hides,  tallow,  and  beeswax.  Money  was  practi¬ 
cally  unknown  in  the  settlements,  so  that  domes¬ 
tic  trade  likewise  took  the  form  of  simple  barter. 
Periods  of  industry  and  prosperity  alternated  with 
periods  of  depression,  and  the  easy-going  habitants 

—  “farmers,  hunters,  traders  by  turn,  with  a 
strong  admixture  of  unprogressive  Indian  blood” 

—  tended  always  to  relapse  into  utter  indolence. 

Some  of  these  French  towns,  however,  were  seats 

of  culture;  and  none  was  wholly  barren  of  diver¬ 
sions.  Kaskaskia  had  a  Jesuit  college  and  likewise 
a  monastery.  Cahokia  had  a  school  for  Indian 
youth.  Fort  Chartres,  we  are  gravely  told,  was 
“the  center  of  life  and  fashion  in  the  West.”  If 
everyday  existence  was  humdrum,  the  villagers 
had  always  the  opportunity  for  voluble  conversa¬ 
tion  “each  from  his  own  balcony”;  and  there  were 
scores  of  Church  festivals,  not  to  mention  birth- 


“A  LAIR  OF  WILD  BEASTS” 


31 


days,  visits  of  travelers  or  neighbors,  and  home¬ 
comings  of  hunters  and  traders,  which  invited  to 
festivity.  Balls  and  dances  and  other  merry¬ 
makings  at  which  the  whole  village  assembled  sup¬ 
plied  the  wants  of  a  people  proverbially  fond  of 
amusement.  Indeed,  French  civilization  in  the 
Mississippi  and  Illinois  country  was  by  no  means 
without  charm. 

Kaskaskia,  in  the  wonderfully  fertile  “American 
Bottom,  ”  maintained  its  existence,  in  spite  of  the 
cession  to  the  English,  as  did  also  Vincennes  far¬ 
ther  east  on  the  Wabash.  Fort  Chartres,  a  stout 
fortification  whose  walls  were  more  than  two  feet 
thick,  remained  the  seat  of  the  principal  garrison, 
and  some  traces  of  French  occupancy  survived 
on  the  Illinois.  Cahokia  was  deserted,  save  for 
the  splendid  mission-farm  of  St.  Sulpice,  with  its 
thirty  slaves,  its  herd  of  cattle,  and  its  mill,  which 
the  fathers  before  returning  to  France  sold  to  a 
thrifty  Frenchman  not  averse  to  becoming  an  Eng¬ 
lish  subject.  A  few  posts  were  abandoned  alto¬ 
gether.  Some  of  the  departing  inhabitants  went 
back  to  France;  some  followed  the  French  com¬ 
mandant,  Neyon  de  Villiers,  down  the  river  to  New 
Orleans;  many  gathered  up  their  possessions,  even 
to  the  frames  and  clapboards  of  their  houses,  and 


/ 


32 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


took  refuge  in  the  new  towns  which  sprang  up  on 
the  western  bank.  One  of  these  new  settlements 
was  Ste.  Genevieve,  strategically  located  near  the 
lead  mines  from  which  the  entire  region  had  long 
drawn  its  supplies  of  shot.  Another,  which  was 
destined  to  greater  importance,  was  St.  Louis, 
established  as  a  trading  post  on  the  richly  wooded 
bluffs  opposite  Cahokia  by  Pierre  Laclede  in  1764. 

Associated  with  Laclede  in  his  fur-trading  opera¬ 
tions  at  the  new  post  was  a  lithe  young  man  named 
Pierre  Chouteau.  In  1846  —  eighty-two  years  af¬ 
terwards —  Francis  Parkman  sat  on  the  spacious 
veranda  of  Pierre  Chouteau’s  country  house  near 
the  city  of  St.  Louis  and  heard  from  the  lips  of  the 
venerable  merchant  stories  of  Pontiac,  Saint-Ange, 
Croghan,  and  all  the  western  worthies,  red  and 
white,  of  two  full  generations.  “Not  all  the  magic 
of  a  dream,”  the  historian  remarks,  “nor  the  en¬ 
chantments  of  an  Arabian  tale,  could  outmatch  the 
waking  realities  which  were  to  rise  upon  the  vision 
of  Pierre  Chouteau.  Where,  in  his  youth,  he  had 
climbed  the  woody  bluff,  and  looked  abroad  on 
prairies  dotted  with  bison,  he  saw,  with  the  dim 
eye  of  his  old  age,  the  land  darkened  for  many  a 
furlong  with  the  clustered  roofs  of  the  western 
metropolis.  For  the  silence  of  the  wilderness,  he 


“A  LAIR  OF  WILD  BEASTS” 


33 


heard  the  clang  and  turmoil  of  human  labor,  the 
din  of  congregated  thousands;  and  where  the  great 
river  rolls  down  through  the  forest,  in  lonely  gran¬ 
deur,  he  saw  the  waters  lashed  into  foam  beneath 
the  prows  of  panting  steamboats,  flocking  to  the 
broad  levee.  ” 

Pontiac’s  war  long  kept  the  English  from  taking 
actual  possession  of  the  western  country.  Mean¬ 
while  Saint- Ange,  commanding  the  remnant  of  the 
French  garrison  at  Fort  Chartres,  resisted  as  best 
he  could  the  demands  of  the  redskins  for  assistance 
against  their  common  enemy  and  hoped  daily  for 
the  appearance  of  an  English  force  to  relieve  him 
of  his  difficult  position.  In  the  spring  of  1764  an 
English  officer,  Major  Loftus,  with  a  body  of 
troops  lately  employed  in  planting  English  au¬ 
thority  in  “East  Florida”  and  “West  Florida,” 
set  out  from  New  Orleans  to  take  possession  of  the 
up-river  settlements.  A  few  miles  above  the 
mouth  of  the  Red,  however,  the  boats  were  fired 
on,  without  warning,  from  both  banks  of  the 
stream,  and  many  of  the  men  were  killed  or 
wounded.  The  expedition  retreated  down  the 
river  with  all  possible  speed.  This  display  of 
faintheartedness  won  the  keen  ridicule  of  the 
French,  and  the  Governor,  D’Abadie,  with  mock 


34 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


magnanimity,  offered  an  escort  of  French  soldiery 
to  protect  the  party  on  its  way  back  to  Pensacola ! 
Within  a  few  months  a  second  attempt  was  pro¬ 
jected,  but  news  of  the  bad  temper  of  the  Indians 
caused  the  leader,  Captain  Pittman,  to  turn  back 
after  reaching  New  Orleans. 

Baffled  in  this  direction,  the  new  commander- 
in-chief,  General  Gage,  resolved  to  accomplish 
the  desired  end  by  an  expedition  from  Fort  Pitt. 
Pontiac,  however,  was  known  to  be  still  plotting 
vengeance  at  that  time,  and  it  seemed  advisable 
to  break  the  way  for  the  proposed  expedition  by  a 
special  mission  to  placate  the  Indians.  For  this 
delicate  task  Sir  William  Johnson  selected  a  trader 
of  long  experience  and  of  good  standing  among  the 
western  tribes,  George  Croghan.  Notwithstand¬ 
ing  many  mishaps,  the  plan  was  carried  out.  With 
two  boats  and  a  considerable  party  of  soldiers  and 
friendly  Delawares,  Croghan  left  Fort  Pitt  in  May, 
1765.  As  he  descended  the  Ohio  he  carefully 
plotted  the  river’s  windings  and  wrote  out  an  inter¬ 
esting  description  of  the  fauna  and  flora  observed. 
All  went  well  until  he  reached  the  mouth  of  the 
Wabash.  There  the  party  was  set  upon  by  a  band 
of  Kickapoos,  who  killed  half  a  dozen  of  his  men. 
Fluent  apologies  were  at  once  offered.  They  had 


“A  LAIR  OF  WILD  BEASTS” 


35 


made  the  attack,  they  explained,  only  because  the 
French  had  reported  that  the  Indians  with  Cro- 
ghan’s  band  were  Cherokees,  the  Kickapoos’  most 
deadly  enemies.  Now  that  their  mistake  was 
apparent,  the  artful  emissaries  declared,  their  re¬ 
gret  was  indeed  deep. 

All  of  this  was  sheer  pretense,  and  Croghan  and 
his  surviving  followers  were  kept  under  close  guard 
and  were  carried  along  with  the  Kickapoo  band  up 
the  Wabash  to  Vincennes,  where  the  trader  en¬ 
countered  old  Indian  friends  who  soundly  rebuked 
the  captors  for  their  inhospitality.  Croghan  knew 
the  Indian  nature  too  well  to  attempt  to  thwart  the 
plans  of  his  “hosts.”  Accordingly  he  went  on 
with  the  band  to  the  upper  Wabash  post  Ouiatanon, 
where  he  received  deputation  after  deputation 
from  the  neighboring  tribes,  smoked  pipes  of  peace, 
made  speeches,  and  shook  hands  with  greasy  war¬ 
riors  by  the  score.  Here  came  a  messenger  from 
Saint- Ange  asking  him  to  proceed  to  Fort  Chartres. 
Here,  also,  Pontiac  met  him,  and,  after  being  as¬ 
sured  that  the  English  had  no  intention  of  enslav¬ 
ing  the  natives,  declared  that  he  would  no  longer 
stand  in  the  conquerors’  path.  Though  in  unex¬ 
pected  manner,  Croghan’s  mission  was  accom¬ 
plished,  and,  with  many  evidences  of  favor  from 


36  THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 

the  natives,  he  went  on  to  Detroit  and  thence  to 
Niagara,  where  he  reported  to  Johnson  that  the 
situation  in  the  West  was  ripe  for  the  establishment 
of  English  sovereignty. 

There  was  no  reason  for  further  delay,  and  Cap¬ 
tain  Thomas  Sterling  was  dispatched  with  a  hun¬ 
dred  Highland  veterans  to  take  over  the  settle¬ 
ments.  Descending  the  Ohio  from  Fort  Pitt,  the 
expedition  reached  Fort  Chartres  just  as  the  frosty 
air  began  to  presage  the  coming  of  winter.  On 
October  10,  1765,  —  more  than  two  and  a  half 
years  after  the  signing  of  the  Treaty  of  Paris,  — 
Saint-Ange  made  the  long-desired  transfer  of  au¬ 
thority.  General  Gage’s  high-sounding  proclama¬ 
tion  was  read,  the  British  flag  was  run  up,  and 
Sterling’s  red-coated  soldiery  established  itself  in 
the  citadel.  In  due  time  small  detachments  were 
sent  to  Vincennes  and  other  posts;  and  the  triumph 
of  the  British  power  over  Frenchman  and  Indian 
was  complete.  Saint-Ange  retired  with  his  little 
garrison  to  St.  Louis,  where,  until  the  arrival  of  a 
Spanish  lieutenant-governor  in  1770,  he  acted  by 
common  consent  as  chief  magistrate. 

The  creoles  who  passed  under  the  English  flag 
suffered  little  from  the  change.  Their  property 
and  trading  interests  were  not  molested,  and  the 


“A  LAIR  OF  WILD  BEASTS” 


37 


English  commandants  made  no  effort  to  displace 
the  old  laws  and  usages.  Documents  were  written 
and  records  were  kept  in  French  as  well  as  English. 
The  village  priest  and  the  notary  retained  their 
accustomed  places  of  paternal  authority.  The  old 
idyllic  life  went  on.  Population  increased  but 
little;  barter,  hunting,  and  trapping  still  furnished 
the  means  of  a  simple  subsistence;  and  with  music, 
dancing,  and  holiday  festivities  the  light-hearted 
populace  managed  to  crowd  more  pleasure  into  a 
year  than  the  average  English  frontiersman  got 
-  in  a  lifetime. 

For  a  year  or  two  after  the  European  pacification 
of  1763  Indian  disturbances  held  back  the  flood  of 
settlers  preparing  to  enter,  through  the  Alleghany 
passes,  the  upper  valleys  of  the  westward  flowing 
rivers.  Neither  Indian  depredations  nor  proclama¬ 
tions  of  kings,  however,  could  long  interpose  an 
effectual  restraint.  The  supreme  object  of  the 
settlers  was  to  obtain  land.  Formerly  there  was 
land  enough  for  all  along  the  coasts  or  in  the  nearer 
uplands.  But  population,  as  Franklin  computed, 
was  doubling  in  twenty-five  years;  vacant  areas 
had  already  been  occupied;  and  desirable  lands 

m 

had  been  gathered  into  great  speculative  holdings. 
Newcomers  were  consequently  forced  to  cross  the 


38 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


mountains  —  and  not  only  newcomers,  but  all 
residents  who  were  still  land-hungry  and  ambi¬ 
tious  to  better  their  condition. 

To  such  the  appeal  of  the  great  West  was  irre¬ 
sistible.  The  English  Government  might  indeed 
regard  the  region  as  a  “barren  waste”  or  a  “profit¬ 
less  wilderness,”  but  not  so  the  Scotch-Irish, 
Huguenot,  and  Palatine  homeseekers  who  poured 
by  the  thousands  through  the  Chesapeake  and 
Delaware  ports.  Pushing  past  the  settled  sea¬ 
board  country,  these  rugged  men  of  adventure 
plunged  joyously  into  the  forest  depths  and  became 
no  less  the  founders  of  the  coming  nation  than  were 
the  Pilgrims  and  the  Cavaliers. 

Ahead  of  the  home-builder,  however,  went  the 
speculator.  It  has  been  remarked  that  “from  the 
time  when  Joliet  and  La  Salle  first  found  their  way 
into  the  heart  of  the  great  West  up  to  the  present 
day  when  far-off  Alaska  is  in  the  throes  of  develop¬ 
ment,  ‘  big  business 9  has  been  engaged  in  western 
speculation.”1  In  pre-revolutionary  days  this 
speculation  took  the  form  of  procuring,  by  grant  or 
purchase,  large  tracts  of  western  land  which  were 
to  be  sold  and  colonized  at  a  profit.  Franklin  was 
interested  in  a  number  of  such  projects.  Washing- 

1  Alvord,  Mississippi  Valley  in  British  Politics ,  vol.  i,  p.  86. 


“  A  LAIR  OF  WILD  BEASTS  ” 


39 


ton,  the  Lees,  and  a  number  of  other  prominent 
Virginians  were  connected  with  an  enterprise  which 
absorbed  the  old  Ohio  Company;  and  in  1770 
Washington,  piloted  by  Croghan,  visited  the  Ohio 
country  with  a  view  to  the  discovery  of  desirable 
areas.  Eventually  he  acquired  western  holdings 
amounting  to  thirty-three  thousand  acres,  with  a 
water-front  of  sixteen  miles  on  the  Ohio  and  of 
forty  miles  on  the  Great  Kanawha. 

In  1773  a  company  promoted  by  Samuel  Whar¬ 
ton,  Benjamin  Franklin,  William  Johnson,  and  a 
London  banker,  Thomas  Walpole,  secured  the 
grant  of  two  and  a  half  million  acres  between  the 
Alleghanies  and  the  Ohio,  which  was  to  be  the  seat 
of  a  colony  called  Vandalia.  This  departure  from 
the  policy  laid  down  in  the  Proclamation  of  1763 
was  made  reluctantly,  but  with  a  view  to  giving  a 
definite  western  limit  to  the  seaboard  provinces. 
The  Government’s  purpose  was  fully  understood  in 
America,  and  the  project  was  warmly  opposed, 
especially  by  Virginia,  the  chartered  claimant  of 
the  territory.  The  early  outbreak  of  the  Revolu¬ 
tionary  War  wrecked  the  project,  and  nothing  ever 
came  of  it  —  or  indeed  of  any  colonization  proposal 
contemporary  with  it.  By  and  large,  the  building 
of  the  West  was  to  be  the  work,  not  of  colonizing 


30 S TON  v-OLLEG 

FACULTY  LIBRARY 

4ESTNUT  HILL,  MAS 


40 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


companies  or  other  corporate  interests,  but  of  in¬ 
dividual  homeseekers,  moving  into  the  new  coun¬ 
try  on  their  own  responsibility  and  settling  where 
and  when  their  own  interests  and  inclinations  led. 


CHAPTER  III 


THE  REVOLUTION  BEGINS 

/ 

One  of  the  grievances  given  prominence  in  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  was  that  the  English 
Crown  had  “abolished  the  free  system  of  Eng¬ 
lish  laws  in  a  neighbouring  province,  establishing 
therein  an  arbitrary  government,  and  enlarging  its 
boundaries  so  as  to  render  it  at  once  an  example 
and  fit  instrument  for  introducing  the  same  arbi¬ 
trary  rule  into  these  colonies.”  The  measure 
which  was  in  the  minds  of  the  signers  was  the 
Quebec  Act  of  1774;  and  the  feature  to  which  they 
especially  objected  was  the  extension  of  this  pecu¬ 
liarly  governed  Canadian  province  to  include  the 
whole  of  the  territory  north  of  the  Ohio  and  east  of 
the  Mississippi. 

The  Quebec  Act  was  passed  primarily  to  remedy 
a  curious  mistake  made  by  King  George’s  ministers 
eleven  years  earlier.  The  Proclamation  of  1763 

had  been  intended  to  apply  to  the  new  French- 

41 


42 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


speaking  possessions  in  only  a  general  way,  leaving 
matters  of  government  and  law  to  be  regulated  at 
a  later  date.  But  through  oversight  it  ordained 
the  establishment  of  English  law,  and  even  of  a 
representative  assembly,  precisely  as  in  the  other 
new  provinces.  The  English  governors  were  thus 
put  in  an  awkward  position.  They  were  required 
to  introduce  English  political  forms  and  legal 
practices.  Yet  the  inexperience  and  suspicion  of 
the  people  made  it  unwise,  if  not  impossible,  to  do 
so.  When,  for  example,  jury  trial  was  broached, 
the  peasants  professed  to  be  quite  unable  to  un¬ 
derstand  why  the  English  should  prefer  to  have 
matters  of  law  decided  by  tailors  and  shoemakers 
rather  than  by  a  judge;  and  as  for  a  legislature, 
they  frankly  confessed  that  assemblies  “had  drawn 
upon  other  colonies  so  much  distress,  and  had  oc¬ 
casioned  so  much  riot  and  bloodshed,  that  they 
had  hoped  never  to  have  one.” 

The  Act  of  1774  relieved  the  situation  by  restor¬ 
ing  French  law  in  civil  affairs,  abolishing  jury  trial 
except  in  criminal  cases,  rescinding  the  grant  of 
representative  government,  and  confirming  the 
Catholic  clergy  in  the  rights  and  privileges  which 
they  had  enjoyed  under  the  old  regime.  This 
would  have  aroused  no  great  amount  of  feeling 


i 


THE  REVOLUTION  BEGINS 


43 


among  New  Englanders  and  Virginians  if  the  new 
arrangements  had  been  confined  to  the  bounds  of 
the  original  province.  But  they  were  not  so  re¬ 
stricted.  On  the  contrary,  the  new  province  was 
made  to  include  the  great  region  between  the 
Alleghanies  and  the  Mississippi,  southward  to  the 
Ohio;  and  it  was  freely  charged  that  a  principal 
object  of  the  English  Government  was  to  sever 
the  West  from  the  shore  colonies  and  perma¬ 
nently  link  it  with  the  St.  Lawrence  Valley  rather 
than  with  the  Atlantic  slope. 

At  all  events,  the  Quebec  Act  marked  the  be¬ 
ginning  of  civil  government  in  the  great  North¬ 
west.  On  November  9, 1775,  Henry  Hamilton  ap¬ 
peared  as  Lieutenant-Governor  at  the  new  capital, 
Detroit.  Already  the  “shot  heard  round  the 
world ”  had  been  fired  by  the  farmers  at  Lexington; 
and  Hamilton  had  been  obliged  to  thread  his  way 
through  General  Montgomery’s  lines  about  Mont¬ 
real  in  the  guise  of  a  Canadian.  Arrived  at  his 
new  seat  of  authority,  he  found  a  pleasant,  freshly 
fortified  town  whose  white  population  had  grown 
to  fifteen  hundred,  including  a  considerable  num¬ 
ber  of  English-speaking  settlers.  The  country 
round  was  overrun  with  traders,  who  cheated  and 
cajoled  the  Indians  without  conscience;  the  na- 


44 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


tives,  in  turn,  were  a  nondescript  lot,  showing  in 
pitiful  manner  the  bad  effects  of  their  contact 
with  the  whites. 

As  related  by  a  contemporary  chronicler  —  a 
Pennsylvanian  who  lived  for  years  among  the 
western  tribes  —  an  Indian  hunting  party  on  ar¬ 
riving  at  Detroit  would  trade  perhaps  a  third  of 
the  peltries  which  they  brought  in  for  fine  clothes, 
ammunition,  paint,  tobacco,  and  like  articles. 
Then  a  keg  of  brandy  would  be  purchased,  and  a 
council  would  be  held  to  decide  who  was  to  get 
drunk  and  who  to  keep  sober.  All  arms  and  clubs 
were  taken  away  and  hidden,  and  the  orgy  would 
begin.  It  was  the  task  of  those  who  kept  sober  to 
prevent  the  drunken  ones  from  killing  one  another, 
a  task  always  hazardous  and  frequently  unsuccess¬ 
ful,  sometimes  as  many  as  five  being  killed  in  a 
night.  When  the  keg  was  empty,  brandy  was 
brought  by  the  kettleful  and  ladled  out  with  large 
wooden  spoons;  and  this  was  kept  up  until  the 
last  skin  had  been  disposed  of.  Then,  dejected, 
wounded,  lamed,  with  their  fine  new  shirts  torn, 
their  blankets  burned,  and  with  nothing  but  their 
ammunition  and  tobacco  saved,  they  would  start 
off  down  the  river  to  hunt  in  the  Ohio  country 
and  begin  again  the  same  round  of  alternating  toil 


THE  REVOLUTION  BEGINS 


45 


and  debauchery.  In  the  history  of  the  country 
there  is  hardly  a  more  depressing  chapter  than 
that  which  records  the  easy  descent  of  the  red  man, 
once  his  taste  for  “fire  water”  was  developed,  to 
bestiality  and  impotence. 

The  coming  on  of  the  Revolution  produced  no 
immediate  effects  in  the  West.  The  meaning  of 
the  occurrences  round  Boston  was  but  slowly 
grasped  by  the  frontier  folk.  There  was  little 
indeed  that  the  Westerners  could  do  to  help  the 
cause  of  the  eastern  patriots,  and  most  of  them, 
if  left  alone,  would  have  been  only  distant  specta¬ 
tors  of  the  conflict.  But  orders  given  to  the 
British  agents  and  commanders  called  for  the 
ravaging  of  the  trans-Alleghany  country;  and  as 
a  consequence  the  West  became  an  important 
theater  of  hostilities. 

The  British  agents  had  no  troops  with  which  to 
undertake  military  operations  on  a  considerable 
scale,  but  they  had  one  great  resource  —  the  In¬ 
dians  —  and  this  they  used  with  a  reckless  dis¬ 
regard  of  all  considerations  of  humanity.  In  the 
summer  of  1776  the  Cherokees  were  furnished 
with  fifty  horse-loads  of  ammunition  and  were 
turned  loose  upon  the  back  country  of  Georgia  and 
the  Carolinas.  Other  tribes  were  prompted  to 


46 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


depredations  farther  north.  White,  half-breed, 
and  Indian  agents  went  through  the  forests  inci¬ 
ting  the  natives  to  deeds  of  horror;  prices  were  fixed 
on  scalps  —  and  it  is  significant  of  the  temper  of 
these  agents  that  a  woman’s  scalp  was  paid  for  as 
readily  as  a  man’s. 

In  every  corner  of  the  wilderness  the  bloody 
scenes  of  Pontiac’s  war  were  now  reenacted. 
Bands  of  savages  lurked  about  the  settlements, 
ready  to  attack  at  any  unguarded  moment;  and 
wherever  the  thin  blue  smoke  of  a  settler’s  cabin 
rose,  prowlers  lay  in  wait.  A  woman  might  not 
safely  go  a  hundred  yards  to  milk  a  cow,  or  a  man 
lead  a  horse  to  water.  The  farmer  carried  a  gun 
strapped  to  his  side  as  he  ploughed,  and  he  scarcely 
dared  venture  into  the  woods  for  the  winter’s 
supply  of  fuel  and  game.  Hardly  a  day  passed 
on  wdiich  a  riderless  horse  did  not  come  galloping 
into  some  lonely  clearing,  telling  of  a  fresh  tragedy 
on  the  trail. 

The  rousing  of  the  Indians  against  the  frontiers¬ 
men  was  an  odious  act.  The  people  of  the  back 
country  were  in  not  the  slightest  degree  responsible 
for  the  revolt  against  British  authority  in  the  East. 
They  were  non-combatants,  and  no  amount  of 
success  in  sweeping  them  from  their  homes  could 


THE  REVOLUTION  BEGINS 


47 


affect  the  larger  outcome.  The  crowning  villainy  of 
this  shameful  policy  was  the  turning  of  the  redskins 
loose  to  prey  upon  helpless  women  and  children. 

The  responsibility  for  this  inhumanity  must  be 
borne  in  some  degree  by  the  government  of  George 
III.  “God  and  nature,  ”  wrote  the  Earl  of  Suffolk 
piously,  “hath  put  into  our  hands  the  scalping- 
knife  and  tomahawk,  to  torture  them  into  uncon¬ 
ditional  submission.”  But  the  fault  lay  chiefly 
with  the  British  officers  at  the  western  posts  — 
most  of  all,  with  Lieutenant-Governor  Hamilton 
at  Detroit.  Probably  no  British  representative 
in  America  was  on  better  terms  with  the  natives. 
He  drank  with  them,  sang  war-songs  with  them, 
and  received  them  with  open  arms  when  they  came 
in  from  the  forests  with  the  scalps  of  white  men 
dangling  at  their  belts.  A  great  council  on  the 
banks  of  the  Detroit  in  June,  1778,  was  duly 
opened  with  prayer,  after  which  Hamilton  ha¬ 
rangued  the  assembled  Chippewas,  Hurons,  Mo¬ 
hawks,  and  PotawTatomi  on  their  “duties”  in  the 
war  and  congratulated  them  on  the  increasing 
numbers  of  their  prisoners  and  scalps,  and  then 
urged  them  to  redoubled  activity  by  holding  out 
the  prospect  of  the  complete  expulsion  of  white 
men  from  the  great  interior  hunting-grounds. 


48 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


Scarcely  were  the  deputations  attending  this 
council  well  on  their  way  homewards  when  a 
courier  arrived  from  the  Illinois  country  bringing 
startling  news.  The  story  was  that  a  band  of  three 
hundred  rebels  led  by  one  George  Rogers  Clark 
had  fallen  upon  the  Kaskaskia  settlements,  had 
thrown  the  commandant  into  irons,  and  had  ex¬ 
acted  from  the  populace  an  oath  of  allegiance  to 
the  Continental  Congress.  It  was  reported,  too, 
that  Cahokia  had  been  taken,  and  that,  even  as 
the  messenger  was  leaving  Kaskaskia,  “Gibault,  a 
French  priest,  had  his  horse  ready  saddled  to  go 
to  Vincennes  to  receive  the  submission  of  the 
inhabitants  in  the  name  of  the  rebels.” 

George  Rogers  Clark  was  a  Virginian,  born  in 
the  foothills  of  Albemarle  County  three  years 
before  Braddock’s  defeat.  His  family  was  not  of 
the  landed  gentry,  but  he  received  some  educa¬ 
tion,  and  then,  like  Washington  and  many  other 
adventuresome  young  men  of  the  day,  became  a 
surveyor.  At  the  age  of  twenty-two  he  was  a 
member  of  Governor  Dunmore’s  staff.  During  a 
surveying  expedition  he  visited  Kentucky,  which 
so  pleased  him  that  in  1774  he  decided  to  make 
that  part  of  the  back  country  his  home.  He  was 
even  then  a  man  of  powerful  frame,  with  broad 


THE  REVOLUTION  BEGINS 


49 


brow,  keen  blue  eyes,  and  a  dash  of  red  in  his  hair 
from  a  Scottish  ancestress  —  a  man,  too,  of  ardent 
patriotism,  strong  common  sense,  and  exceptional 
powers  of  initiative  and  leadership.  Small  wonder 
that  in  the  rapidly  developing  commonwealth  be¬ 
yond  the  mountains  he  quickly  became  a  domi¬ 
nating  spirit. 

With  a  view  to  organizing  a  civil  government 
and  impressing  upon  the  Virginia  authorities  the 
need  of  defending  the  western  settlements,  the 
men  of  Kentucky  held  a  convention  at  Harrods- 
burg  in  the  spring  of  1775  and  elected  two  delegates 
to  present  their  petition  to  the  Virginia  Assembly. 
Clark  was  one  of  them.  The  journey  to  Williams¬ 
burg  was  long  and  arduous,  and  the  delegates 
arrived  only  to  find  that  the  Legislature  had  ad¬ 
journed.  The  visit,  none  the  less,  gave  Clark  an 
opportunity  to  explain  to  the  new  Governor —  “a 
certain  Patrick  Henry,  of  Hanover  County,”  as 
the  royalist  Dunmore  contemptuously  styled  his 
successor  —  the  situation  in  the  back  country  and 
to  obtain  five  hundred  pounds  of  powder.  He  also 
induced  the  authorities  to  take  steps  which  led  to 
the  definite  organization  of  Kentucky  as  a  county 
of  Virginia. 

In  the  bloody  days  that  followed,  most  of  the 


50 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


pioneers  saw  nothing  to  be  done  except  to  keep 
close  guard  and  beat  off  the  Indians  when  they 
came.  A  year  or  two  of  that  sort  of  desperate 
uncertainty  gave  Clark  an  idea.  Why  not  meet 
the  trouble  at  its  source  by  capturing  the  British 
posts  and  suppressing  the  commandants  whose 
orders  were  mainly  responsible  for  the  atrocities? 
There  was  just  one  obstacle:  Kentucky  could  spare 
neither  men  nor  money  for  the  undertaking. 

In  the  spring  of  1777  two  young  hunters,  dis¬ 
guised  as  traders,  were  dispatched  to  the  Illinois 
country  and  to  the  neighborhood  of  Vincennes,  to 
spy  out  the  land.  They  brought  back  word  that 
the  posts  were  not  heavily  manned,  and  that  the 
French-speaking  population  took  little  interest  in 
the  war  and  was  far  from  reconciled  to  British  rule. 
The  prospect  seemed  favorable.  Without  making 
his  purpose  known  to  anyone,  Clark  forthwith 
joined  a  band  of  disheartened  settlers  and  made  his 
way  with  them  over  the  Wilderness  Trail  to  Vir¬ 
ginia.  By  this  time  a  plan  on  the  part  of  the  rebels 
for  the  defense  of  the  Kentucky  settlements  had 
grown  into  a  scheme  for  the  conquest  of  the  whole 
Northwest. 

Clark’s  proposal  came  opportunely.  Burgoyne’s 
surrender  had  given  the  colonial  cause  a  rosy  hue. 


THE  REVOLUTION  BEGINS 


51 


and  already  the  question  of  the  occupation  of  the 
Northwest  had  come  up  for  discussion  in  Con¬ 
gress.  Governor  Henry  thought  well  of  the  plan. 
He  called  Thomas  Jefferson,  George  Mason,  and 
George  Wythe  into  conference,  and  on  January 
2,  1778,  Clark  was  given  two  sets  of  orders  —  one, 
for  publication,  commissioning  him  to  raise  seven 
companies  of  fifty  men  each  “in  any  county  of  the 
Commonwealth”  for  militia  duty  in  Kentucky, 
the  other,  secret,  authorizing  him  to  use  this  force 
in  an  expedition  for  the  capture  of  the  “Brit¬ 
ish  post  at  Kaskasky.”  To  meet  the  costs,  only 
twelve  hundred  pounds  in  depreciated  continental 
currency  could  be  raised.  But  the  Governor  and 
his  friends  promised  to  try  to  secure  three  hundred 
acres  of  land  for  each  soldier,  in  case  the  project 
should  succeed.  The  strictest  secrecy  was  pre¬ 
served,  and,  even  if  the  Legislature  had  been  in 
session,  the  project  would  probably  not  have  been 
divulged  to  it. 

Men  and  supplies  were  gathered  at  Fort  Pitt 
and  Wheeling  and  were  carried  down  the  Ohio  to 
“the  Falls,”  opposite  the  site  of  Louisville.  The 
real  object  of  the  expedition  was  concealed  until 
this  point  was  reached.  On  learning  of  the  project, 
the  men  were  surprised,  and  some  refused  to  go 


52  THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 

farther.  But  in  a  few  weeks  one  hundred  and 
seventy-five  men,  organized  in  four  companies, 
were  in  readiness.  The  start  was  made  on  the 
24th  of  June.  Just  as  the  little  flotilla  of  clumsy 
flatboats  was  caught  by  the  rapid  current,  the 
landscape  was  darkened  by  an  eclipse  of  the  sun. 
The  superstitious  said  that  this  was  surely  an  evil 
omen.  But  Clark  was  no  believer  in  omens,  and 
he  ordered  the  bateaux  to  proceed.  He  had  lately 
received  news  of  the  French  alliance,  and  was 
surer  than  ever  that  the  habitants  would  make 
common  cause  with  his  forces  and  give  him  com¬ 
plete  success. 

To  appear  on  the  Mississippi  was  to  run  the 
risk  of  betraying  the  object  of  the  expedition  to  the  ~ 
defenders  of  the  posts.  Hence  the  wily  commander 
decided  to  make  the  last  stages  of  his  advance  by 
an  overland  route.  At  the  deserted  site  of  Fort 
Massac,  nine  miles  below  the  mouth  of  the  Tennes¬ 
see,  the  little  army  left  the  Ohio  and  struck  off 
northwest  on  a  march  of  one  hundred  and  twenty 
miles,  as  the  crow  flies,  across  the  tangled  forests 
and  rich  prairies  of  southern  Illinois. 

Six  days  brought  the  invaders  to  the  Kaskaskia 
River,  three  miles  above  the  principal  settlement. 
Stealing  silently  along  the  bank  of  the  stream  on 


THE  REVOLUTION  BEGINS 


53 


the  night  of  the  4th  of  July,  they  crossed  in  boats 
which  they  seized  at  a  farmhouse  and  arrived  at 
the  palisades  wholly  unobserved.  Half  of  the  force 
was  stationed  in  the  form  of  a  cordon,  so  that  no 
one  might  escape.  The  remainder  followed  Clark 
through  an  unguarded  gateway  into  the  village. 

.  According  to  a  story  long  current,  the  officials 
of  the  post  were  that  night  giving  a  ball,  and  all  of 
the  elite,  not  of  Kaskaskia  alone  but  of  the  neigh- 
boring  settlements  as  well,  were  joyously  dancing 
in  one  of  the  larger  rooms  of  the  fort.  Leaving 
his  men  some  paces  distant,  Clark  stepped  to  the 
entrance  of  the  hall,  and  for  some  time  leaned  un¬ 
observed  against  the  door-post,  grimly  watching 
the  gayety.  Suddenly  the  air  was  rent  by  a  war- 
whoop  which  brought  the  dancers  to  a  stop.  An 
Indian  brave,  lounging  in  the  firelight,  had  caught 
a  glimpse  of  the  tall,  gaunt,  buff  and  blue  figure 
in  the  doorway  and  had  recognized  it.  Women 
shrieked;  men  cursed;  the  musicians  left  their 
posts;  all  was  disorder.  Advancing,  Clark  struck 
a  theatrical  pose  and  in  a  voice  of  command  told 
the  merrymakers  to  go  on  with  their  dancing,  but 
to  take  note  that  they  now  danced,  not  as  subjects 
of  King  George  but  as  Virginians.  Finding  that 
they  were  in  no  mood  for  further  diversion,  he 


54 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


sent  them  to  their  homes;  and  all  night  they  shiv¬ 
ered  with  fear,  daring  not  so  much  as  to  light  a 
candle  lest  they  should  be  set  upon  and  murdered 
in  their  beds. 

This  account  is  wholly  unsupported  by  contem¬ 
porary  testimony,  and  it  probably  sprang  from  the 
imagination  of  some  good  frontier  story-teller.  It 
contains  at  least  this  much  truth,  that  the  settle¬ 
ment,  after  being  thrown  into  panic,  was  quickly 
and  easily  taken.  Curiously  enough,  the  com¬ 
mandant  was  a  Frenchman,  Rocheblave,  who  had 
thriftily  entered  the  British  service.  True  to  the 
trust  reposed  in  him,  he  protested  and  threatened, 
but  to  no  avail.  The  garrison,  now  much  dimin¬ 
ished,  was  helpless,  and  the  populace  —  British, 
French,  and  Indian  alike  —  was  not  disposed  to 
court  disaster  by  offering  armed  resistance.  Hence, 
on  the  morning  after  the  capture  the  oath  of  fidel¬ 
ity  was  administered,  and  the  American  flag  was 
hoisted  for  the  first  time  within  view  of  the  Father 
of  Waters.  After  dispatching  word  to  General 
Carleton  that  he  had  been  compelled  to  surrender 
the  post  to  “the  self-styled  Colonel,  Mr.  Clark,” 
Rocheblave  was  sent  as  a  captive  to  'Williamsburg, 
where  he  soon  broke  parole  and  escaped.  His 
slaves  were  sold  for  five  hundred  pounds,  and  the 


THE  REVOLUTION  BEGINS 


55 


money  was  distributed  among  the  troops.  Ca- 
hokia  was  occupied  without  resistance,  and  the 
French  priest.  Father  Pierre  Gibault,  whose  parish 
extended  from  Lake  Superior  to  the  Ohio,  volun¬ 
teered  to  go  to  Vincennes  and  win  its  inhabitants 
to  the  American  cause. 

Like  Kaskaskia  and  Cahokia,  the  Wabash 
settlement  had  been  put  in  charge  of  a  comman¬ 
dant  of  French  descent.  The  village,  however, 
was  at  the  moment  without  a  garrison,  and  its 
chief  stronghold,  Fort  Sackville,  was  untenanted. 
Gibault  argued  forcefully  for  acceptance  of  Ameri¬ 
can  sovereignty,  and  within  two  days  the  entire 
population  filed  into  the  little  church  and  took  the 
oath  of  allegiance.  The  astonished  Indians  were 
given  to  understand  that  their  former  “Great 
Father,”  the  King  of  France,  had  returned  to  life, 
and  that  they  must  comply  promptly  with  his 
wishes  or  incur  his  everlasting  wrath  for  having 
given  aid  to  the  despised  British. 

Thus  without  the  firing  of  a  shot  or  the  shedding 
of  a  drop  of  blood,  the  vast  Illinois  and  Wabash 
country  was  won  for  the  future  United  States. 
Clark’s  plan  was  such  that  its  success  was  assured 
by  its  very  audacity.  It  never  occurred  to  the 
British  authorities  that  their  far  western  forts 


56 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


were  in  danger,  and  they  were  wholly  unprepared 
to  fly  to  the  defense  of  such  distant  posts.  British 
sovereignty  on  the  Mississippi  was  never  recovered; 
and  in  the  autumn  of  1778  Virginia  took  steps  to 
organize  her  new  conquest  by  setting  up  the  county 
of  Illinois,  which  included  all  her  territories  lying 
“on  the  western  side  of  the  Ohio.” 


CHAPTER  IV 


THE  CONQUEST  COMPLETED 

Lieutenant-Governor  Hamilton  had  many 
faults,  but  sloth  was  not  one  of  them;  and  when 
he  heard  what  had  happened  he  promptly  decided 
to  regain  the  posts  and  take  the  upstart  Kentucky 
conqueror  captive.  Emissaries  were  sent  to  the 
Wabash  country  to  stir  up  the  Indians,  and  for 
weeks  the  Detroit  settlement  resounded  with  prep¬ 
arations  for  the  expedition.  Boats  were  built  or 
repaired,  guns  were  cleaned,  ammunition  was  col- 
lected  in  boxes,  provisions  were  put  up  in  kegs  or 
bags,  baubles  for  the  Indians  were  made  or  pur¬ 
chased.  Cattle  and  wheels,  together  with  a  six- 
pounder,  were  sent  ahead  to  be  in  readiness  for 
use  at  various  stages  of  the  journey. 

Further  weeks  were  consumed  in  awaiting  re¬ 
enforcements  which  never  came;  and  in  early 
October,  when  the  wild  geese  were  scudding  south¬ 
ward  before  the  first  snow  flurries  of  the  coming 

57 


58 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


winter,  the  commandant  started  for  the  reconquest 
with  a  motley  force  of  thirty-six  British  regulars, 
forty-five  local  volunteers,  seventy-nine  local  mili¬ 
tia,  and  sixty  Indians.  Reenforcements  were 
gathered  on  the  road,  so  that  when  Vincennes  was 
reached  the  little  army  numbered  about  five  hun¬ 
dred.  From  Detroit  the  party  dropped  easily  down 
the  river  to  Lake  Erie,  where  it  narrowly  escaped 
destruction  in  a  blinding  snowstorm.  By  good 
management,  however,  it  was  brought  safely  to 
the  Maumee,  up  whose  sluggish  waters  the  bateaux 
were  laboriously  poled.  A  portage  of  nine  miles 
gave  access  to  the  Wabash.  Here  the  water  was 
very  shallow,  and  only  by  building  occasional  dikes 
to  produce  a  current  did  the  party  find  it  possible 
to  complete  the  journey.  As  conferences  with  the 
Indians  further  delayed  them,  it  was  not  until 
a  few  days  before  Christmas  that  the  invaders 
reached  their  goal. 

The  capture  of  Vincennes  proved  easy  enough. 
The  surrender,  none  the  less,  was  made  in  good 
military  style.  There  were  two  iron  three-pound¬ 
ers  in  the  wretched  little  fort,  and  one  of  these 
was  loaded  to  the  muzzle  and  placed  in  the  open 
gate.  As  Hamilton  and  his  men  advanced,  so  runs 
a  not  very  well  authenticated  story,  Lieutenant 


59 


ye  the  conquest  completed 

y  -v' 

^Helm  stood  by  the  gun  with  a  lighted  taper  and 
called  sternly  upon  the  invaders  to  halt.  The 
British  leader  demanded  the  surrender  of  the 
garrison.  Helm  parleyed  and  asked  for  terms. 
Hamilton  finally  conceded  the  honors  of  war,  and 
Helm  magnanimously  accepted.  Hamilton  there¬ 
upon  drew  up  his  forces  in  a  double  line,  the  Bri  ish 
on  one  side  and  the  Indians  on  the  other;  and  the 
garrison  —  one  officer  and  one  soldier  —  solemnly 
marched  out  between  them!  After  the  “ conquer¬ 
ors”  had  regained  their  equanimity,  the  cross  of 
St.  George  was  once  more  run  up  on  the  fort.  A 
body  of  French  militia  returned  to  British  alle¬ 
giance  with  quite  as  much  facility  as  it  had  shown 
in  accepting  American  sovereignty  under  the  elo¬ 
quence  of  Father  Gibault;  and  the  French  inhabi¬ 
tants,  gathered  again  in  the  church,  with  perfectly 
straight  faces  acknowledged  that  they  had  “sinned 
against  God  and  man”  by  taking  sides  with  the 
rebels,  and  promised  to  be  loyal  thereafter  to 
George  III. 

Had  the  British  forces  immediately  pushed  on, 
this  same  scene  might  have  been  repeated  at  Kas- 
kaskia  and  Cahokia.  Clark’s  position  there  was 
far  from  strong.  Upon  the  expiration  of  their 
term  of  enlistment  most  of  his  men  had  gone  back 


00 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


to  Kentucky  or  Virginia,  and  their  places  had  been 
taken  mainly  by  creoles,  whose  steadfastness  was 
doubtful.  Furthermore,  the  Indians  were  rest¬ 
less,  and  it  was  only  by  much  vigilance  and  bra¬ 
vado  that  they  were  kept  in  a  respectful  mood.  All 
this  was  well  known  to  Hamilton,  who  now  pro¬ 
posed  to  follow  up  the  recapture  of  the  Mississippi 
posts  by  the  obliteration  of  all  traces  of  American 
authority  west  of  the  Alleghanies. 

The  difficulties  and  dangers  of  a  midwinter  cam¬ 
paign  in  the  flooded  Illinois  country  were  not  to  be 
lightly  regarded,  and  weeks  of  contending  with  icy 
blasts  and  drenching  rains  lent  a  seat  by  an  open 
fire  unusual  attractiveness.  Hence  the  comple¬ 
tion  of  the  campaign  was  postponed  until  spring 
—  a  decision  which  proved  the  salvation  of  the 
American  cause  in  the  West.  As  means  of  sub¬ 
sistence  were  slender,  most  of  the  Detroit  militia 
were  sent  home,  and  the  Indians  were  allowed  to 
scatter  to  their  distant  wigwams.  The  force  kept 
at  the  post  numbered  only  about  eighty  or  ninety 
whites,  with  a  few  Indians. 

Clark  now  had  at  Kaskaskia  a  band  of  slightly 
over  a  hundred  men.  He  understood  Hamilton’s 
army  to  number  five  or  six  hundred.  The  outlook 
was  dubious,  until  Frangois  Vigo,  a  friendly  Span- 


61 


THE  CONQUEST  COMPLETED 

ish  trader  of  St.  Louis,  escaping  captivity  at  Vin¬ 
cennes,  came  to  Kaskaskia  with  the  information 
that  Hamilton  had  sent  away  most  of  his  troops; 
and  this  welcome  news  gave  the  doughty  Kentuck¬ 
ian  a  brilliant  idea.  He  would  defend  his  post  by 
attacking  the  invaders  while  they  were  yet  at 
Vincennes,  and  before  they  were  ready  to  resume 
operations.  “The  case  is  desperate,”  he  wrote  to 
Governor  Henry,  “but,  sir,  we  must  either  quit 
the  country  or  attack  Mr.  Hamilton.”  He  had 
probably  never  heard  of  Scipio  Africanus  but, 
like  that  indomitable  Roman,  he  proposed  to  carry 
the  war  straight  into  the  enemy’s  country.  4 4  There 
wTere  undoubtedly  appalling  difficulties,”  says  Mr. 
Roosevelt,  44  in  the  way  of  a  midwinter  march  and 
attack;  and  the  fact  that  Clark  attempted  and 
performed  the  feat  which  Hamilton  dared  not  try, 
marks  just  the  difference  between  a  man  of  genius 
and  a  good,  brave,  ordinary  commander.” 

Preparations  were  pushed  with  all  speed.  A 
large,  flat-bottomed  boat,  the  Willing ,  was  fitted 
out  with  four  guns  and  was  sent  down  the  Missis¬ 
sippi  with  forty  men  to  ascend  the  Ohio  and  the 
Wabash  to  a  place  of  rendezvous  not  far  from  the 
coveted  post.  By  early  February  the  depleted 
companies  were  recruited  to  their  full  strength;  and 


62 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


after  the  enterprise  had  been  solemnly  blessed  by 
Father  Gibault,  Clark  and  his  forces,  numbering 
one  hundred  and  thirty  men,  pushed  out  upon  the 
desolate,  wind-swept  prairie. 

The  distance  to  be  covered  was  about  two  hun¬ 
dred  and  thirty  miles.  Under  favorable  circum- 

t/ 

stances,  the  trip  could  have  been  made  in  five 
or  six  days  and  with  little  hardship.  The  rainy 
season,  however,  was  now  at  its  height,  and  the 
country  was  one  vast  quagmire,  overrun  by  swollen 
streams  which  could  be  crossed  only  at  great  risk. 
Ten  days  of  wearisome  marching  brought  the  ex¬ 
pedition  to  the  forks  of  the  Little  Wabash.  The 
entire  region  between  the  two  channels  was  under 
water,  and  for  a  little  time  it  looked  as  if  the  whole 
enterprise  would  have  to  be  given  up.  There  were 
no  boats;  provisions  were  running  low;  game  was 
scarce;  and  fires  could  not  be  built  for  cooking. 

But  Clark  could  not  be  turned  back  by  such 
difficulties.  He  plunged  ahead  of  his  men,  struck 
up  songs  and  cheers  to  keep  them  in  spirit,  played 
the  buffoon,  went  wherever  danger  was  greatest, 
and  by  an  almost  unmatched  display  of  bravery, 
tact,  and  firmness,  won  the  redoubled  admiration 
of  his  suffering  followers  and  held  them  together. 
Murmurs  arose  among  the  creoles,  but  the  Ameri- 


THE  CONQUEST  COMPLETED 


63 


cans  showed  no  signs  of  faltering.  For  more  than 
a  week  the  party  floundered  through  the  freezing 
water,  picked  its  way  from  one  outcropping  bit 
of  earth  to  another,  and  seldom  found  opportunity 
to  eat  or  sleep.  Rifles  and  powder-horns  had  to  be 
borne  by  the  hour  above  the  soldiers’  heads  to  keep 
them  dry. 

Finally,  on  the  23d  of  February,  a  supreme  effort 
carried  the  troops  across  the  Horseshoe  Plain, 
breast-deep  in  water,  and  out  upon  high  ground  two 
miles  from  Vincennes.  By  this  time  many  of  the 
men  were  so  weakened  that  they  could  drag  them¬ 
selves  along  only  with  assistance.  But  buffalo  meat 
and  corn  were  confiscated  from  the  canoes  of  some 
passing  squaws,  and  soon  the  troops  were  refreshed 
and  in  good  spirits.  The  battle  with  the  enemy 
ahead  seemed  as  nothing  when  compared  with  the 
struggle  with  the  elements  which  they  had  success¬ 
fully  waged.  No  exploit  of  the  kind  in  American 
history  surpasses  this,  unless  it  be  Benedict  Ar¬ 
nold’s  winter  march  through  the  wilderness  of 
Maine  in  1775  to  attack  Quebec. 

Two  or  three  creole  hunters  were  now  taken 
captive,  and  from  them  Clark  learned  that  no  one 
in  Vincennes  knew  of  his  approach.  They  reported, 
however,  that,  although  the  habitants  were  tired 


64 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


of  the  “Hair-Buyer’s”  presence  and  would  gladly 
return  to  American  allegiance,  some  two  hundred 
Indians  had  just  arrived  at  the  fort.  The  Willing 
had  not  been  heard  from.  But  an  immediate  at¬ 
tack  seemed  the  proper  course;  and  the  young 
colonel  planned  and  carried  it  out  with  the  curious 
mixture  of  bravery  and  braggadocio  of  which  he 
was  a  past  master. 

First  he  drew  up  a  lordly  letter,  addressed  to 
the  inhabitants  of  the  town,  and  dispatched  it 
by  one  of  his  creole  prisoners.  “Gentlemen,”  it 
ran,  “being  now  within  two  miles  of  your  village 
with  my  army  .  .  .  and  not  being  willing  to  sur¬ 
prise  you,  I  take  this  step  to  request  such  of  you 
as  are  true  citizens,  and  willing  to  enjoy  the  liberty 
I  bring  you,  to  remain  still  in  your  houses.  And 
those,  if  any  there  be,  that  are  friends  to  the  King, 
will  instantly  repair  to  the  fort  and  join  the  Hair- 
Buyer  General  and  fight  like  men.”  Having  thus 
given  due  warning,  he  led  his  “army”  forward, 
marching  and  counter-marching  his  meager  forces 
among  the  trees  and  hills  to  give  an  appearance 
of  great  numbers,  while  he  and  his  captains  helped 
keep  up  the  illusion  by  galloping  wildly  here  and 
there  on  horses  they  had  confiscated,  as  if  order¬ 
ing  a  vast  array.  At  nightfall  the  men  advanced 


THE  CONQUEST  COMPLETED  65 

upon  the  stockade  and  opened  fire  from  two  direc¬ 
tions. 

Not  until  a  sergeant  reeled  from  his  chair  with  a 
bullet  in  his  breast  did  the  garrison  realize  that 
it  was  really  under  attack.  The  habitants  had 
kept  their  secret  well.  There  was  a  beating  of 
drums  and  a  hurrying  to  arms,  and  throughout  the 
night  a  hot  fusillade  was  kept  up.  By  firing  from 
behind  houses  and  trees,  and  from  rifle  pits  that 
were  dug  before  the  attack  began,  the  Americans 
virtually  escaped  loss;  while  Hamilton’s  gunners 
were  picked  off  as  fast  as  they  appeared  at  the  port¬ 
holes  of  the  fort.  Clark’s  ammunition  ran  low, 
but  the  habitants  furnished  a  fresh  supply  and  at 
the  same  time  a  hot  breakfast  for  the  men.  In  a 
few  hours  the  cannon  were  silenced,  and  parleys 
were  opened.  Hamilton  insisted  that  he  and  his 
garrison  were  “not  disposed  to  be  awed  into  an 
action  unworthy  of  British  subjects,  ”  but  they 
were  plainly  frightened,  and  Clark  finally  sent  the 
commandant  back  to  the  fort  from  a  conference 
in  the  old  French  church  with  the  concession  of  one 
hour’s  time  in  which  to  decide  what  he  would  do. 
To  help  him  make  up  his  mind,  the  American 
leader  caused  half  a  dozen  Indians  who  had  just 
returned  from  the  forests  with  white  men’s  scalps 


66 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


dangling  at  their  belts  to  be  tomahawked  and 
thrown  into  the  river  within  plain  view  of  the 
garrison. 

Surrender  promptly  followed.  Hamilton  and 
twenty-five  of  his  men  were  sent  off  as  captives  to 
Virginia,  where  the  commandant  languished  in 
prison  until,  in  1780,  he  was  paroled  at  the  sugges¬ 
tion  of  Washington.  On  taking  an  oath  of  neu¬ 
trality,  the  remaining  British  sympathizers  were 
set  at  liberty.  For  a  second  time  the  American 
flag  floated  over  Indiana  soil,  not  again  to  be 
lowered. 

Immediately  after  the  capitulation  of  Hamilton, 
a  scouting-party  captured  a  relief  expedition  which 
was  on  its  way  from  Detroit  and  placed  in  Clark’s 
hands  ten  thousand  pounds’  worth  of  supplies  for 
distribution  as  prize-money  among  his  deserving 
men.  The  commander’s  cup  of  satisfaction  was 
filled  to  the  brim  when  the  Willing  appeared  with 
a  long-awaited  messenger  from  Governor  Henry 
who  brought  to  the  soldiers  the  thanks  of  the 
Legislature  of  Virginia  for  the  capture  of  Kas- 
kaskia  and  also  the  promise  of  more  substantial 
reward. 

The  whole  of  the  Illinois  and  Indiana  country 
was  now  in  American  hands.  Tenure,  however, 


THE  CONQUEST  COMPLETED 


67 


was  precarious  so  long  as  Detroit  remained  a 
British  stronghold,  and  Clark  now  broadened  his 
plans  to  embrace  the  capture  of  that  strategic 
place.  Leaving  Vincennes  in  charge  of  a  garrison 
of  forty  men,  he  returned  to  Kaskaskia  with  the 
Willing  and  set  about  organizing  a  new  expedition. 
Kentucky  pledged  three  hundred  men,  and  Virginia 
promised  to  help.  But  when,  in  midsummer,  the 
commander  returned  to  Vincennes  to  consolidate 
and  organize  his  forces,  he  found  the  numbers  to 
be  quite  insufficient.  From  Kentucky  there  came 
only  thirty  men. 

Disappointment  followed  disappointment;  he 
was  ordered  to  build  a  fort  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Ohio  —  a  project  of  which  he  had  himself  ap¬ 
proved;  and  when  at  last  he  had  under  his  com¬ 
mand  a  force  that  might  have  been  adequate  for 
the  Detroit  expedition,  he  was  obliged  to  use  it  in 
meeting  a  fresh  incursion  of  savages  which  had 
been  stirred  up  by  the  new  British  commandant  on 
the  Lakes.  But  Thomas  Jefferson,  who  in  1779 
Succeeded  Henry  as  Governor  of  Virginia,  was 
deeply  interested  in  the  Detroit  project,  and  at  his 
suggestion  Washington  gave  Clark  an  order  on  the 
commandant  of  Fort  Pitt  for  guns,  supplies,  and 
such  troops  as  could  be  spared.  On  January  22, 


68 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


1781,  Jefferson  appointed  Clark  “  brigadier-general 
of  the  forces  to  be  embodied  on  an  expedition 
westward  of  the  Ohio.”  Again  Clark  was  doomed 
to  disappointment.  One  obstacle  after  another 
interposed.  Yet  as  late  as  May,  1781,  the  expect¬ 
ant  conqueror  wrote  to  Washington  that  he  had 
“not  yet  lost  sight  of  Detroit.”  Suitable  oppor¬ 
tunity  for  the  expedition  never  came,  and  when 
peace  was  declared  the  northern  stronghold  was 
still  in  British  hands. 

Clark’s  later  days  were  clouded.  Although 
Virginia  gave  him  six  thousand  acres  of  land  in 
southern  Indiana  and  presented  him  with  a  sword, 
peace  left  him  without  employment,  and  he  was 
never  able  to  adjust  himself  to  the  changed  situa¬ 
tion.  For  many  years  he  lived  alone  in  a  little 
cabin  on  the  banks  of  the  Ohio,  spending  his  time 
hunting,  fishing,  and  brooding  over  the  failure  of 
Congress  to  reward  him  in  more  substantial  manner 
for  his  services.  He  was  land-poor,  lonely,  and 
embittered.  In  1818  he  died  a  paralyzed  and  help¬ 
less  cripple.  His  resting  place  is  in  Cave  Hill 
Cemetery,  Louisville;  the  finest  statue  of  him 
stands  in  Monument  Circle,  Indianapolis  —  “an 
athletic  figure,  scarcely  past  youth,  tall  and  sinewy, 
with  a  drawn  sword,  in  an  attitude  of  energetic 


THE  CONQUEST  COMPLETED 


69 


encouragement,  as  if  getting  his  army  through  the 
drowned  lands  of  the  Wabash.” 1 

The  capture  of  Vincennes  determined  the  fate 
of  the  Northwest.  Frontier  warfare  nevertheless 
went  steadily  on.  In  1779  Spain  entered  the  con¬ 
test  as  an  ally  of  France,  and  it  became  the  ob¬ 
ject  of  the  British  commanders  on  the  Lakes  not 
only  to  recover  the  posts  lost  to  the  Americans  but 
to  seize  St.  Louis  and  other  Spanish  strongholds 
on  the  west  bank  of  the  Mississippi.  In  1780 
Lieutenant-Governor  Patrick  Sinclair,  a  bustling, 
garrulous  old  soldier  stationed  at  Michilimackinac, 
sent  a  force  of  some  nine  hundred  traders,  servants, 
and  Indians  down  the  Mississippi  to  capture  both 
the  American  and  Spanish  settlements.  An  attack 
on  St.  Louis  failed,  as  did  likewise  a  series  of  efforts 
against  Cahokia  and  Kaskaskia,  and  the  survivors 
were  glad  to  reach  their  northern  headquarters 
again,  with  nothing  to  show  for  their  pains  except 
a  dozen  prisoners. 

Not  to  be  outdone,  the  Spanish  commandant 
at  St.  Louis  sent  an  expedition  to  capture  British 
posts  in  the  Lake  country.  An  arduous  winter 
march  brought  the  avengers  and  their  Indian  allies 
to  Fort  St.  Joseph,  a  mile  or  two  west  of  the 

1  Hosmer,  Short  History  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,  p.  94. 


70 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


present  city  of  Niles,  Michigan.  It  would  be 
ungracious  to  say  that  this  post  was  selected  for 
attack  because  it  was  without  a  garrison.  At  all 
events,  the  place  was  duly  seized,  the  Spanish 
standard  was  set  up,  and  possession  of  “the  fort 
and  its  dependencies”  was  taken  in  the  name  of 
his  Majesty  Don  Carlos  III.  No  effort  was  made 
to  hold  the  settlement  permanently,  and  the  Brit¬ 
ish  from  Detroit  promptly  retook  it.  Probably 
the  sole  intention  had  been  to  add  somewhat  to 
the  strength  of  the  Spanish  position  at  the  forth¬ 
coming  negotiations  for  peace. 

The  war  in  the  West  ended,  as  it  began,  in  a 
carnival  of  butchery.  Treacherous  attacks,  mas¬ 
sacres,  burnings,  and  pillagings  were  everyday 
occurrences,  and  white  men  were  hardly  less  at 
fault  than  red.  Indeed  the  most  discreditable  of 
all  the  recorded  episodes  of  the  time  was  a  heartless 
massacre  by  Americans  of  a  large  band  of  Indians 
that  had  been  Christianized  by  Moravian  mis¬ 
sionaries  and  brought  together  in  a  peaceful  com¬ 
munity  on  the  Muskingum.  This  slaughter  of  the 
innocents  at  Gnadenhiitten  (“the  Tents  of  Grace”) 
reveals  the  frontiersman  at  his  worst.  But  it  was 
dearly  paid  for.  From  the  Lakes  to  the  Gulf  red¬ 
skins  rose  for  vengeance.  Villages  were  wiped  out, 


THE  CONQUEST  COMPLETED  71 

and  murderous  bands  swept  far  into  Virginia 
and  Pennsylvania,  evading  fortified  posts  in  order 
to  fall  with  irresistible  fury  on  unsuspecting  traders 
and  settlers.  , 

In  midsummer,  1782,  news  of  the  cessation  of 
hostilities  between  Great  Britain  and  her  former 
seaboard  colonies  reached  the  back  country,  and 
the  commandant  at  Detroit  made  an  honest  ef¬ 
fort  to  stop  all  offensive  operations.  A  messenger 
failed,  however,  to  reach  a  certain  Captain  Cald¬ 
well,  operating  in  the  Ohio  country,  in  time  to 
prevent  him  from  attacking  a  Kentucky  settle¬ 
ment  and  bringing  on  the  deadly  Battle  of  Blue 
Licks,  in  which  the  Americans  were  defeated  with 
a  loss  of  seventy-one  men.  George  Rogers  Clark 
forthwith  led  a  retaliatory  expedition  against  the 
Miami  towns,  taking  prisoners,  recapturing  whites, 
and  destroying  British  trading  establishments;  and 
with  this  final  flare-up  the  Revolution  came  to  an 
end  in  the  Northwest. 

The  soldier  had  won  the  back  countrv  for  the 
new  nation.  Could  the  diplomat  hold  it?  As 
early  as  March  19,  1779,  —  just  three  weeks  after 
Clark’s  capture  of  Vincennes,  —  the  Continental 
Congress  formally  laid  claim  to  the  whole  of  the 
Northwest;  and  a  few  months  later  John  Adams 


72 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


was  instructed  to  negotiate  for  peace  on  the  under¬ 
standing  that  the  country’s  northern  and  western 
boundaries  were  to  be  the  line  of  the  Great  Lakes 
and  the  Mississippi.  When,  in  1781,  Franklin, 
Jefferson,  Jay,  and  Laurens  were  appointed  to 
assist  Adams  in  the  negotiation,  the  new  Congress 
of  the  Confederation  stated  that  the  earlier  instruc¬ 
tions  on  boundaries  represented  its  “desires  and 
expectations.” 

It  might  have  been  supposed  that  if  Great  Brit¬ 
ain  could  be  brought  to  accept  these  terms  there 
would  be  no  further  difficulty.  But  obstacles 
arose  from  other  directions.  France  had  entered 
the  war  for  her  own  reasons,  and  looked  with 
decidedly  more  satisfaction  on  the  defeat  of  Great 
Britain  than  on  the  prospect  of  a  new  and  powerful 
nation  in  the  Western  Hemisphere.  Furthermore, 
she  was  in  close  alliance  with  Spain;  and  Spain  had 
no  sympathy  whatever  with  the  American  cause 
as  such.  At  all  events,  she  did  not  want  the 
United  States  for  a  neighbor  on  the  Mississippi. 

The  American  commissioners  were  under  in¬ 
structions  to  make  no  peace  without  consulting 
France.  But  when,  in  the  spring  of  1782,  Jay 
came  upon  the  scene  of  the  negotiations  at  Paris, 
he  demurred.  He  had  been  for  some  time  in 


THE  CONQUEST  COMPLETED 


73 


Spain,  and  he  carried  to  Paris  not  only  a  keen 
contempt  for  the  Spanish  people  and  Spanish 
politics,  but  a  strong  suspicion  that  Spain  was 
using  her  influence  to  keep  the  United  States 
from  getting  the  territory  between  the  Lakes  and 
the  Ohio.  France  soon  fell  under  similar  suspicion, 
for  she  was  under  obligations,  as  everyone  knew, 
to  satisfy  Spain;  and  little  time  elapsed  before  the 
penetrating  American  diplomat  was  semiofficially 
assured  that  his  suspicions  in  both  directions  were 
well  founded. 

The  mainspring  of  Spanish  policy  was  the  desire 
to  make  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  a  closed  sea,  under 
exclusive  Spanish  control.  This  plan  would  be 
frustrated  if  the  Americans  acquired  an  outlet  on 
the  Gulf;  furthermore,  it  would  be  jeopardized 
if  they  retained  control  on  the  upper  Mississippi. 
Hence,  the  States  must  be  kept  back  from  the 
great  river;  safety  dictated  that  they  be  confined 
to  the  region  east  of  the  Appalachians. 

An  ingenious  plan  was  thereupon  developed. 
Spain  was  to  resume  possession  of  the  Floridas,  in¬ 
suring  thereby  the  coveted  unbroken  coast  line  on 
the  Gulf.  The  vast  area  between  the  Mississippi 
and  the  Appalachians  and  south  of  the  Ohio  was 
to  be  an  Indian  territory,  half  under  Spanish  and 


74 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


half  under  American  “protection.”  The  entire 
region  north  of  the  Ohio  was  to  be  kept  by  Great 
Britain,  or,  at  the  most,  divided  —  on  lines  to 
be  determined  —  between  Great  Britain  and  the 
United  States.  From  Rayneval,  confidential  sec¬ 
retary  of  the  French  foreign  minister  Vergennes, 
Jay  learned  that  the  French  Government  proposed 
to  give  this  scheme  its  support. 

Had  such  terms  as  these  been  forced  on  the  new 
nation,  the  hundreds  of  Virginian  and  Pennsyl¬ 
vanian  pioneers  who  had  given  up  their  lives  in  the 
planting  of  American  civilization  in  the  back  coun¬ 
try  would  have  turned  in  their  graves.  But  Jay 
had  no  notion  of  allowing  the  scheme  to  succeed. 
He  sent  an  emissary  to  England  to  counteract 
the  Spanish  and  French  influence.  He  converted 
Adams  to  his  way  of  thinking,  and  even  raised 
doubts  in  Franklin’s  mind.  Finally  he  induced 
his  colleagues  to  cast  their  instructions  to  the 
winds  and  negotiate  a  treaty  with  the  mother 
country  independently. 

This  simplified  matters  immensely.  Great  Brit¬ 
ain  was  a  beaten  nation,  and  from  the  beginning 
her  commissioners  played  a  losing  game.  There 
was  much  haggling  over  the  loyalists,  the  fisheries, 
debts;  but  the  boundaries  were  quickly  drawn. 


THE  CONQUEST  COMPLETED 


75 


Great  Britain  preferred  to  see  the  disputed  western 
country  in  American  hands  rather  than  to  leave 
a  chance  for  it  to  fall  under  the  control  of  one  of 
her  European  rivals. 

Accordingly,  the  Treaty  of  Paris  drew  the  in¬ 
terior  boundary  of  the  new  nation  through  the 
Great  Lakes  and  connecting  waters  to  the  Lake  of 
the  Woods;  from  the  most  northwestern  point  of 
the  Lake  of  the  Woods  due  west  to  the  Mississippi 
(an  impossible  line);  down  the  Mississippi  to 
latitude  31°;  thence  east,  by  that  parallel  and  by 
the  line  which  is  now  the  northern  boundary  of 
Florida,  to  the  ocean.  Three  nations,  instead  of 
two,  again  shared  the  North  American  Continent: 
Great  Britain  kept  the  territory  north  of  the 
Lakes;  Spain  ruled  the  Floridas  and  everything 
west  of  the  Mississippi;  the  United  States  held  the 
remainder  —  an  area  of  more  than  825,000  square 
miles,  with  a  population  of  three  and  one  half 
millions. 


CHAPTER  V 


WAYNE,  THE  SCOURGE  OF  THE  INDIANS 

“This  federal  republic,”  wrote  the  Spanish 
Count  d’Aranda  to  his  royal  master  in  1782,  “is 
born  a  pigmy.  A  day  will  come  when  it  will  be 
a  giant,  even  a  colossus.  Liberty  of  conscience, 
the  facility  for  establishing  a  new  population  on 
immense  lands,  as  well  as  the  advantages  of  the 
new  government,  will  draw  thither  farmers  and 
artisans  from  all  the  nations.” 

Aranda  correctly  weighed  the  value  of  the 
country’s  vast  stretches  of  free  and  fertile  land. 

i 

The  history  of  the  United  States  has  been  largely 
a  story  of  the  clearing  of  forests,  the  laying  out 
of  farms,  the  erection  of  homes,  the  construction 
of  highways,  the  introduction  of  machinery,  the 
building  of  railroads,  the  rise  of  towns  and  of 
great  cities.  The  Germans  of  Wisconsin  and 
Missouri,  the  Scandinavians  of  Minnesota  and  the 

Dakotas,  the  Poles  and  Hungarians  of  Chicago, 

76 


WAYNE,  SCOURGE  OF  THE  INDIANS  77 

the  Irish  and  Italians  of  a  thousand  communities, 
attest  the  fact  that  the  “farmers  and  artisans  from 
all  the  nations”  have  had  an  honorable  part  in  the 
achievement. 

In  laying  plans  for  the  development  of  the 
western  lands  the  statesmanship  of  the  Revolu¬ 
tionary  leaders  was  at  its  best.  In  the  first  place, 
the  seven  States  which  had  some  sort  of  title  to 
tracts  extending  westward  to  the  Mississippi  wisely 
yielded  these  claims  to  the  nation;  and  thus  was 
created  a  single,  national  domain  which  could  be 
dealt  with  in  accordance  with  a  consistent  policy. 
In  the  second  place,  Congress,  as  early  as  1780, 
pledged  the  national  Government  to  dispose  of  the 
western  lands  for  the  common  benefit,  and  prom¬ 
ised  that  they  should  be  “settled  and  formed  into 
distinct  republican  states,  which  shall  become  mem¬ 
bers  of  the  federal  union,  and  have  the  same  rights 
of  sovereignty,  freedom,  and  independence  as  the 
other  states.” 

Finallv,  in  the  Northwest  Ordinance  of  1787 
there  was  mapped  out  a  scheme  of  government 
admirably  adapted  to  the  liberty-loving,  yet  law- 
abiding,  populations  of  the  frontier.  It  was  based 
on  the  broad  principles  of  democracy,  and  it  was 
sufficiently  flexible  to  permit  necessary  changes  as 


78 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


the  scattered  settlements  developed  into  organ¬ 
ized  Territories  and  then  into  States.  Geographical 
conditions,  as  well  as  racial  inheritances,  fore¬ 
ordained  that  the  United  States  should  be  an  ex¬ 
panding,  colonizing  nation;  and  it  was  of  vital 
importance  that  wholesome  precedents  of  terri¬ 
torial  control  should  be  established  in  the  begin¬ 
ning.  Louisiana,  Florida,  the  Mexican  accessions, 
Alaska,  and  even  the  newer  tropical  dependen¬ 
cies,  owe  much  to  the  decisions  that  were  reached 
in  the  organizing  of  the  Northwest  a  century  and  a 
quarter  ago. 

The  Northwest  Ordinance  was  remarkable  in 
that  it  was  framed  for  a  territory  that  had  practi¬ 
cally  no  white  population  and  which,  in  a  sense, 
did  not  belong  to  the  United  States  at  all.  Back 
in  1768  Sir  William  Johnson’s  Treaty  of  Fort 
Stanwix  had  made  the  Ohio  River  the  boundary 
between  the  white  and  red  races  of  the  West. 
Nobody  at  the  close  of  the  Revolution  supposed 
that  this  division  would  be  adhered  to;  the  North¬ 
west  had  not  been  w^on  for  purposes  of  an  Indian 
reserve.  None  the  less,  the  arrangements  of  1768 
were  inherited,  and  the  nation  considered  them 
binding  except  in  so  far  as  they  were  modified  from 
time  to  time  by  new  agreements.  The  first  such 


WAYNE,  SCOURGE  OF  THE  INDIANS  79 


agreement  affecting  the  Northwest  was  concluded 
in  1785,  through  George  Rogers  Clark  and  two 
other  commissioners,  with  the  Wyandots,  Dela¬ 
wares,  Chippewas,  and  Ottawas.  By  it  the  United 
States  acquired  title  to  the  southeastern  half  of 
the  present  State  of  Ohio,  with  a  view  to  survey¬ 
ing  the  lands  and  raising  revenue  by  selling  them. 
Successive  treaties  during  the  next  thirty  years 
gradually  transferred  the  whole  of  the  Northwest 
from  Indian  hands  to  the  new  nation. 

Officially,  the  United  States  recognized  the 
validity  of  the  Indian  claims;  but  the  pioneer 
homeseeker  was  not  so  certain  to  do  so.  From 
about  1775  the  country  south  of  the  Ohio  filled 
rapidly  with  settlers  from  Virginia  and  the  Caroli- 
nas,  so  that  by  1788  the  white  population  beyond 
the  Blue  Ridge  was  believed  to  be  considerably 
over  one  hundred  thousand.  For  a  decade  the 
“Indian  side,”  as  the  north  shore  was  habitually 
called,  was  trodden  only  by  occasional  hunters, 
traders,  and  explorers.  But  after  Clark’s  vic¬ 
tories  on  the  Mississippi  and  the  Wabash,  the 
frontiersmen  grew  bolder.  By  1780  they  began  to 
plant  camps  and  cabins  on  the  rich  bottom-lands 
of  the  Miamis,  the  Scioto,  and  the  Muskingum; 
and  when  they  heard  that  the  British  claims  in 


80 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


the  West  had  been  formally  yielded,  they  assumed  • 
that  whatever  they  could  take  was  theirs.  With 
the  technicalities  of  Indian  claims  they  had  not 
much  patience.  In  1785  Colonel  Harmar,  com¬ 
manding  at  Fort  Pitt,  sent  a  deputation  down  the 
river  to  drive  the  intruders  back.  But  his  agents 
returned  with  the  report  that  the  Virginians  and 
Kentuckians  were  moving  into  the  forbidden 
country  “by  the  forties  and  fifties,”  and  that  they 
gave  every  evidence  of  proposing  to  remain  there. 
Surveyors  were  forthwith  set  to  work  in  the 
“  Seven  Ranges,”  as  the  tract  just  to  the  west  of 
the  Pennsylvania  boundary  was  called;  and  Fort 
Harmar  was  built  at  the  mouth  of  the  Muskingum 
to  keep  the  over-ardent  settlers  back. 

The  close  of  the  Revolution  brought  not  only  a 
swift  revival  of  emigration  to  the  West  but  also  a 
remarkable  outburst  of  speculation  in  western  land. 
March  3,  1786,  General  Rufus  Putnam  and  some 
other  Continental  officers  met  at  the  “Bunch  of 
Grapes”  Tavern  in  Boston  and  decided  that  it 
would  be  to  their  advantage  to  exchange  for  land 
in  the  Seven  Ranges  the  paper  certificates  in  which 
they  had  been  paid  for  their  military  services. 
Accordingly  an  “Ohio  Company”  was  organized, 
and  Dr.  Manasseh  Cutler  —  “preacher,  lawyer. 


WAYNE,  SCOURGE  OF  THE  INDIANS  81 


doctor,  statesman,  scientist,  land  speculator”  — 
was  sent  off  to  New  York  to  push  the  matter  in 
Congress.  The  upshot  was  that  Congress  author¬ 
ized  the  sale  of  one  and  a  half  million  acres  east  of 
the  Scioto  to  the  Ohio  Company,  and  five  million 
acres  to  a  newly  organized  Scioto  Company. 

The  Scioto  Company  fell  into  financial  difficul¬ 
ties  and,  after  making  an  attempt  to  build  up  a 
French  colony  at  Gallipolis,  collapsed.  But  Gen¬ 
eral  Putnam  and  his  associates  kept  their  affairs 
well  in  hand  and  succeeded  in  planting  the  first 
legal  white  settlement  in  the  present  State  of 
Ohio.  An  arduous  winter  journey  brought  the 
first  band  of  forty-eight  settlers,  led  by  Putnam 
himself,  to  the  mouth  of  the  Muskingum  on 
April  7,  1788.  Here,  in  the  midst  of  a  great  forest 
dotted  with  terraces,  cones,  and  other  fantastic 
memorials  of  the  moundbuilders,  they  erected  a 
blockhouse  and  surrounded  it  with  cabins.  For  a 
touch  of  the  classical,  they  called  the  fortification 
the  Campus  Martius;  to  be  strictly  up  to  date, 
they  named  the  town  Marietta,  after  Marie  An¬ 
toinette,  Queen  of  France.  In  July  the  little 
settlement  was  honored  by  being  made  the  resi¬ 
dence  of  the  newly  arrived  Governor  of  the  Terri¬ 
tory,  General  Arthur  St.  Clair. 

6 


82 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


Before  the  close  of  the  year  Congress  sold  one 
million  acres  between  the  two  Miamis  to  Judge 
Symmes  of  New  Jersey;  and  three  little  towns  were 
at  once  laid  out.  To  one  of  them  a  pedantic  school¬ 
master  gave  the  name  L-os-anti-ville ,  “the  town 
opposite  the  mouth  of  the  Licking.”  The  name 
may  have  required  too  much  explanation;  at  all 
events,  when,  in  1790,  the  Governor  transferred 
the  capital  thither  from  Marietta,  he  rechristened 
the  place  Cincinnati,  in  honor  of  the  famous  Revo¬ 
lutionary  society  to  which  he  belonged. 

Land  speculators  are  confirmed  optimists.  But 
Putnam,  Cutler,  Symmes,  and  their  associates 
were  correct  in  believing  that  the  Ohio  country 
was  at  the  threshold  of  a  period  of  remarkable 
development.  There  was  one  serious  obstacle  — 
the  Indians.  Repeated  expeditions  from  Kentucky 
had  pushed  most  of  the  tribes  northward  to  the 
headwaters  of  the  Miami,  Scioto,  and  Wabash; 
and  the  Treaty  of  1785  was  supposed  to  keep  them 
there.  But  it  was  futile  to  expect  such  an  arrange¬ 
ment  to  prove  lasting  unless  steadily  backed  up 
with  force.  In  their  squalid  villages  in  the  swampy 
forests  of  northern  Ohio  and  Indiana  the  redskins 
grew  sullen  and  vindictive.  As  they  saw  their  fa¬ 
vorite  hunting-grounds  slipping  from  their  grasp. 


WAYNE,  SCOURGE  OF  THE  INDIANS  83 


those  who  had  taken  part  in  the  cession  repented 
their  generosity,  while  those  who  had  no  part  in  it 
pronounced  it  fraudulent  and  refused  to  consider 
themselves  bound  by  it.  Swiftly  the  idea  took 
hold  that  the  oncoming  wave  must  be  rolled  back 
before  it  was  too  late.  “  White  man  shall  not 
plant  corn  north  of  the  Ohio”  became  the  rallying 
cry. 

Back  of  this  rebelliousness  lay  a  certain  amount 
of  British  influence.  The  Treaty  of  1783  was 
signed  in  as  kindly  spirit  as  the  circumstances 
would  permit,  but  its  provisions  were  not  carried 
out  in  a  charitable  manner.  On  account  of  alleged 
shortcomings  of  the  United  States,  the  British 
Government  long  refused  to  give  up  possession  of 
eight  or  ten  fortified  posts  in  the  north  and  west. 
One  of  these  was  Detroit;  and  the  officials  stationed 
there  systematically  encouraged  the  hordes  of  red¬ 
skins  who  had  congregated  about  the  western  end 
of  Lake  Erie  to  make  all  possible  resistance  to  the 
American  advance.  The  British  no  longer  had 
any  claim  to  the  territories  south  of  the  Lakes, 
but  they  wanted  to  keep  their  ascendancy  over 
the  northwestern  Indians,  and  especially  to  pre¬ 
vent  the  rich  fur  trade  from  falling  into  American 
hands.  Ammunition  and  other  supplies  were  lav- 


84 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


ished  on  the  restless  tribes.  The  post  officials  in¬ 
sisted  that  these  were  merely  the  gifts  which  had 
regularly  been  made  in  times  of  peace.  But  they 
were  used  with  deadly  effect  against  the  Ohio  fron¬ 
tiersmen;  and  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  they 
were  intended  so  to  be  used. 

By  1789  the  situation  was  very  serious.  Ma¬ 
rauding  expeditions  were  growing  in  frequency; 
and  a  scout  sent  out  by  Governor  St.  Clair  came 
back  with  the  report  that  most  of  the  Indians 
throughout  the  entire  Northwest  had  “bad  hearts.” 
'Washington  decided  that  delay  would  be  danger¬ 
ous,  and  the  nation  forthwith  prepared  for  its  first 
war  since  independence.  Kentucky  was  asked  to 
furnish  a  thousand  militiamen  and  Pennsylvania 
five  hundred,  and  the  forces  were  ordered  to  come 
together  at  Fort  Washington,  near  Cincinnati. 

The  rendezvous  took  place  in  the  summer  of 
1790,  and  General  Josiah  Harmar  was  put  in  com¬ 
mand  of  a  punitive  expedition  against  the  Miamis. 
The  recruits  were  raw,  and  Harmar  was  without 
the  experience  requisite  for  such  an  enterprise. 
None  the  less,  when  the  little  army,  accompanied 
by  three  hundred  regulars,  and  dragging  three 
brass  field-pieces,  marched  out  of  Fort  'Washington 
on  a  fine  September  day,  it  created  a  very  good 


WAYNE,  SCOURGE  OF  THE  INDIANS  85 


impression.  All  went  well  until  the  expedition 
reached  the  Maumee  country.  On  the  site  of  the 
present  city  of  Fort  Wayne  they  destroyed  a 
number  of  Indian  huts  and  burned  a  quantity  of 
corn.  But  in  a  series  of  scattered  encounters  the 
white  men  were  defeated,  with  a  loss  of  nearly 
two  hundred  killed;  and  Harmar  thought  it  the 
part  of  wisdom  to  retreat.  He  had  gained  nothing 
by  the  expedition;  on  the  contrary,  he  had  stirred 
the  redskins  to  fresh  aggressions,  and  his  re¬ 
treating  forces  were  closely  followed  by  bands  of 
merciless  raiders. 

Washington  knew  what  the  effect  of  this  reverse 
would  be.  Accordingly  he  called  St.  Clair  to  Phila¬ 
delphia  and  ordered  him  to  take  personal  command 
of  a  new  expedition,  adding  a  special  warning 
against  ambush  and  surprise.  Congress  aided  by 
voting  two  thousand  troops  for  six  months,  besides 
two  small  regiments  of  regulars.  But  everything 
went  wrong.  Recruiting  proved  slow;  the  men 
who  were  finally  brought  together  were  poor  ma¬ 
terial  for  an  army,  being  gathered  chiefly  from 
the  streets  and  prisons  of  the  seaboard  cities;  and 
supplies  were  shockingly  inadequate. 

St.  Clair  was  a  man  of  honest  intention,  but  old, 
broken  in  health,  and  of  very  limited  military 


86 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


ability;  and  when  finally,  October  4,  1791,  he  led 
his  untrained  forces  slowly  northwards  from  Fort 
Washington,  he  utterly  failed  to  take  measures 
either  to  keep  his  movements  secret  or  to  protect 
his  men  against  sudden  attack.  The  army  trudged 
slowly  through  the  deep  forests,  chopping  out  its 
own  road,  and  rarely  advancing  more  than  five  or 
six  miles  a  day.  The  weather  was  favorable  and 
game  was  abundant,  but  discontent  was  rife  and 
desertions  became  daily  occurrences.  As  most  of 
the  men  had  no  taste  for  Indian  warfare  and  as 
their  pay  was  but  two  dollars  a  month,  not  all  the 
commander’s  threats  and  entreaties  could  hold 
them  in  order. 

On  the  night  of  the  3d  of  November  the  little 
army  —  now  reduced  to  fourteen  hundred  men  — 
camped,  with  divisions  carelessly  scattered,  on 
the  eastern  fork  of  the  Wabash,  about  a  hundred 
miles  north  of  Cincinnati  and  near  the  Indiana 
border.  The  next  morning,  when  preparations 
were  being  made  for  a  forced  march  against  some 
Indian  villages  near  by,  a  horde  of  redskins  burst 
unexpectedly  upon  the  bewildered  troops,  sur¬ 
rounded  them,  and  threatened  them  with  utter 
destruction.  A  brave  stand  was  made,  but  there 
was  little  chance  of  victory.  “After  the  first  on- 


WAYNE,  SCOURGE  OF  THE  INDIANS  87 

set/’  as  Roosevelt  has  described  the  battle,  “the 
Indians  fought  in  silence,  no  sound  coming  from 
them  save  the  incessant  rattle  of  their  fire,  as  they 
crept  from  log  to  log,  from  tree  to  tree,  ever  closer 
and  closer.  The  soldiers  stood  in  close  order,  in 
the  open;  their  musketry  and  artillery  fire  made  a 
tremendous  noise,  but  did  little  damage  to  a  foe 
they  could  hardly  see.  Now  and  then  through 
the  hanging  smoke  terrible  figures  flitted,  painted 
black  and  red,  the  feathers  of  the  hawk  and  eagle 
braided  in  their  long  scalp-locks;  but  save  for  these 
glimpses,  the  soldiers  knew  the  presence  of  their 
somber  enemy  only  from  the  fearful  rapidity  with 
which  their  comrades  fell  dead  and  wounded  in 
the  ranks.” 

At  last,  in  desperation  St.  Clair  ordered  his  men 
to  break  through  the  deadly  cordon  and  save 
themselves  as  best  they  could.  The  Indians  kept 
up  a  hot  pursuit  for  a  distance  of  four  miles. 
Then,  surfeited  with  slaughter,  they  turned  to 
plunder  the  abandoned  camp;  otherwise  there 
would  have  been  escape  for  few.  As  it  was, 
almost  half  of  the  men  in  the  engagement  were 
killed,  and  less  than  five  hundred  got  off  with  no 
injury.  The  survivors  gradually  straggled  into 
the  river  settlements,  starving  and  disheartened. 


88 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


The  page  on  which  is  written  the  story  of  St. 
Clair’s  defeat  is  one  of  the  gloomiest  in  the  his¬ 
tory  of  the  West.  Harmar’s  disaster  was  dwarfed; 
not  since  Braddock  and  his  regulars  were  cut  to 
pieces  by  an  unseen  foe  on  the  road  to  Fort  Du- 
quesne  had  the  redskins  inflicted  upon  their  hered¬ 
itary  enemy  a  blow  of  such  proportions.  It  was 
with  a  heavy  heart  that  the  Governor  dispatched  a 
messenger  to  Philadelphia  with  the  news.  Con¬ 
gress  ordered  an  investigation;  and  in  view  of  the 
unhappy  general’s  high  character  and  his  courage¬ 
ous,  though  blundering,  conduct  during  the  late 
campaign,  he  was  exonerated.  He  retained  the 
governorship,  but  prudently  resigned  his  military 
command. 

The  situation  was  now  desperate.  Everywhere 
the  forests  resounded  with  the  exultant  cries  of  the 
victors,  while  the  British  from  Detroit  and  other 
posts  actively  encouraged  the  belief  not  only  that 
they  would  furnish  all  necessary  aid  but  that 
England  herself  was  about  to  declare  war  on  the 
United  States.  Eventuallv  a  British  force  from 
Detroit  actually  invaded  the  disputed  country  and 
built  a  stockade  (Fort  Miami)  near  the  site  of  the 
present  city  of  Toledo,  with  a  view  to  giving  the 
redskins  convincing  evidence  of  the  seriousness 


WAYNE,  SCOURGE  OF  THE  INDIANS  89 

of  the  Great  White  Father’s  intentions.  Small 
wonder  that,  when  St.  Clair  sought  to  obtain  by 
diplomacy  the  settlement  which  he  had  failed  to 
secure  by  arms,  his  commissioners  were  met  with 
the  ultimatum :  “ Brothers ,  we  shall  be  persuaded 
that  you  mean  to  do  us  justice,  if  you  agree  that 
the  Ohio  shall  remain  the  boundary  line  between 
us.  If  you  will  not  consent  thereto,  our  meeting 
will  be  altogether  unnecessary.” 

It  is  said  that  Washington’s  first  choice  for  the 
new  western  command  was  “Light-Horse  Harry” 
Lee.  But  considerations  of  rank  made  the  ap¬ 
pointment  inexpedient,  and  “Mad  Anthony” 
Wayne  was  named  instead.  Wayne  was  the  son 
of  a  Pennsylvania  frontiersman  and  came  honestly 
by  his  aptitude  for  Indian  fighting.  In  early  life 
he  was  a  surveyor,  and  in  the  Revolution  he  won 
distinction  as  a  dashing  commander  of  Penn¬ 
sylvania  troops  at  Ticonderoga,  Brandywine,  Ger¬ 
mantown,  Stony  Point,  and  other  important  en¬ 
gagements.  Finally  he  obtained  a  major-general’s 
commission  in  Greene’s  campaign  in  Georgia,  and 
at  the  close  of  the  war  he  settled  in  that  State  as  a 
planter.  His  vanity  —  displayed  chiefly  in  a  love 
of  fine  clothes  —  brought  upon  him  a  good  deal 
of  criticism;  and  Washington,  who  in  a  Cabinet 


90 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


meeting  characterized  him  as  “brave  and  nothing 
else,”  was  frankly  apprehensive  lest  in  the  present 
business  Wayne’s  impetuosity  should  lead  to  fresh 
disaster.  Yet  the  qualities  that  on  a  dozen  occa¬ 
sions  had  enabled  Wayne  to  snatch  success  from 
almost  certain  defeat  —  alertness,  decisiveness, 
bravery,  and  sheer  love  of  hard  fighting  —  were 
those  now  chiefly  in  demand. 

The  first  task  was  to  create  an  army.  A  few 
regulars  were  available;  but  most  of  the  three  or 
four  thousand  men  who  were  needed  had  to  be 
gathered  wheresoever  they  could  be  found.  A 
call  for  recruits  brought  together  at  Pittsburgh, 
in  the  summer  of  1792,  a  nondescript  lot  of  beg¬ 
gars,  criminals,  and  other  cast-offs  of  the  eastern 
cities,  no  better  and  no  worse  than  the  adventurers 
who  had  taken  service  under  St.  Clair.  Few  knew 
anything  of  warfare,  and  on  one  occasion  a  mere 
report  of  Indians  in  the  vicinity  caused  a  third  of 
the  sentinels  to  desert  their  posts.  But,  as  rigid 
discipline  was  enforced  and  drilling  was  carried  on 
for  eight  and  ten  hours  a  day,  by  spring  the  sur¬ 
vivors  formed  a  very  respectable  body  of  troops. 
The  scene  of  operations  was  then  transferred 
to  Fort  Washington,  where  fresh  recruits  were 
started  on  a  similar  course  of  development.  Profit- 


WAYNE,  SCOURGE  OF  THE  INDIANS  91 


ing  by  the  experience  of  his  predecessors,  Wayne 
insisted  that  campaigning  should  begin  only  after 
the  troops  were  thoroughly  prepared;  and  no 
drill-master  ever  worked  harder  to  get  his  charges 
into  condition  for  action.  Going  beyond  the  or¬ 
dinary  manual  of  arms,  he  taught  the  men  to 
load  their  rifles  while  running  at  full  speed,  and 
to  yell  at  the  top  of  their  voices  while  making  a 
bayonet  attack. 

In  October,  1793,  the  intrepid  Major-General 
advanced  with  twenty-six  hundred  men  into  the 
nearer  stretches  of  the  Indian  country,  in  order 
to  be  in  a  position  for  an  advantageous  spring 
campaign.  They  built  Fort  Greenville,  eighty 
miles  north  of  Cincinnati,  and  there  spent  the  win¬ 
ter,  while,  on  St.  Clair’s  fatal  battle-field,  an  ad¬ 
vance  detachment  built  a  post  which  they  hope¬ 
fully  christened  Fort  Recovery.  Throughout  the 
winter  unending  drill  was  kept  up;  and  when,  in 
June,  1794,  fourteen  hundred  mounted  militia  ar¬ 
rived  from  Kentucky,  WTayne  found  himself  at 
the  head  of  the  largest  and  best-trained  force 
that  had  ever  been  turned  against  the  Indians 
west  of  the  Alleghanies.  Even  before  the  arrival 
of  the  Kentuckians,  it  proved  its  worth  by  de¬ 
fending  its  forest  headquarters,  with  practically 


92  THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 

no  loss,  against  an  attack  by  fifteen  hundred 
redskins. 

On  the  27th  of  July  the  army  moved  forward 
in  the  direction  of  the  Maumee,  with  closed  ranks 
and  so  guarded  by  scouts  that  no  chance  what¬ 
ever  was  given  for  surprise  attacks.  Washington’s 
admonitions  had  been  taken  to  heart,  and  the 
Indians  could  only  wonder  and  admire.  News 
of  the  army’s  advance  traveled  ahead  and  struck 
terror  through  the  northern  villages,  so  that  many 
of  the  inhabitants  fled  precipitately.  When  the 
troops  reached  the  cultivated  lands  about  the 
junction  of  the  Maumee  and  Auglaize  rivers,  they 
found  only  deserted  huts  and  great  fields  of  corn, 
from  which  they  joyfully  replenished  their  di¬ 
minished  stores.  Here  a  fort  was  built  and  given 
the  significant  name  Defiance;  and  from  it  a  final 
offer  of  peace  was  sent  out  to  the  hostile  tribes. 
Never  doubting  that  the  British  would  furnish 
all  necessary  aid,  the  chieftains  returned  evasive 
answers.  Wayne  thereupon  moved  his  troops  to 
the  left  bank  of  the  Maumee  and  proceeded  cau¬ 
tiously  downstream  toward  the  British  stronghold 
at  Fort  Miami. 

A  few  days  brought  the  army  to  a  place  known 
as  Fallen  Timbers,  where  a  tornado  had  piled  the 


WAYNE,  SCOURGE  OF  THE  INDIANS  93 


trunks  and  branches  of  mighty  trees  in  indescrib¬ 
able  confusion.  The  British  post  was  but  five 
or  six  miles  distant;  and  there  behind  the  breast¬ 
works  which  nature  had  provided,  and  in  easy 
reach  of  their  allies,  the  Indians  chose  to  make 
their  stand.  On  the  morning  of  the  20th  of  August, 
Wayne,  now  so  crippled  by  gout  that  he  had  to 
be  lifted  into  his  saddle,  gallantly  led  an  assault. 
The  Indian  fire  was  murderous,  and  a  battalion  of 
mounted  Kentuckians  was  at  first  hurled  back. 
But  the  front  line  of  infantry  rushed  up  and  dis¬ 
lodged  the  savages  from  their  covert,  while  the 
regular  cavalry  on  the  right  charged  the  enemy’s 
left  flank.  Before  the  second  line  of  infantry 
could  get  into  action  the  day  was  won.  The  whole 
engagement  lasted  less  than  three-quarters  of  an 
hour,  and  not  a  third  of  Wayne’s  three  thousand 
men  actually  took  part  in  it. 

The  fleeing  redskins  were  pursued  to  the  walls 
of  the  British  fort,  and  even  there  many  were 
slain.  The  British  soldiery  not  only  utterly 
failed  to  come  to  the  relief  of  their  hard-pressed 
allies,  but  refused  to  open  the  gates  to  give  them 
shelter.  The  American  loss  was  thirty-three  killed 
and  one  hundred  wounded.  But  the  victory  was 
the  most  decisive  as  yet  gained  over  the  Indians 


94 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


of  the  Northwest.  A  warfare  of  forty  years  was 
ended  in  as  many  minutes. 

From  the  lower  Maumee,  Wayne  marched  back 
to  Fort  Defiance,  and  thence  to  the  junction  of  the 
St.  Mary’s  and  St.  Joseph  rivers,  where  he  built 
a  fort  and  gave  it  the  name  still  borne  by  the 
thriving  city  that  grew  up  around  it  —  Fort 
Wayne.  Everywhere  the  American  soldiers  de¬ 
stroyed  the  ripened  crops  and  burned  the  villages, 
while  the  terrified  inhabitants  fled.  In  November 
the  army  took  up  winter  quarters  at  Fort  Green¬ 
ville.  ~~ 

At  last  the  Americans  had  the  upper  hand. 
Their  arms  were  feared;  the  British  promises  of 
help  were  no  longer  credited  by  the  Indians;  and 
it  was  easy  for  Wayne  to  convince  the  tribal  re¬ 
presentatives  who  visited  him  in  large  numbers 
during  the  winter  that  their  true  interest  was  to 
win  the  good-will  of  the  United  States.  In  the 
summer  of  1795  there  was  a  general  pacification. 
Delegation  after  delegation  arrived  at  Fort  Green¬ 
ville,  until  more  than  a  thousand  chiefs  and  braves 
were  in  attendance.  The  prestige  of  Wayne  was 
still  further  increased  when  the  news  came  that 
John  Jay  had  negotiated  a  treaty  at  London  under 
which  the  British  posts  on  United  States  soil  were 


WAYNE,  SCOURGE  OF  THE  INDIANS  95 


finally  to  be  given  up;  and  on  August  3rd  Wayne 
was  able  to  announce  a  great  treaty  wherein  the 
natives  ceded  all  of  what  is  now  southern  Ohio 
and  southeastern  Indiana,  and  numerous  tracts 
around  posts  within  the  Indian  country,  such  as 
Fort  W7ayne,  Detroit,  and  Michilimackinac  — 
strategic  points  on  the  western  waterways.  “  Elder 
Brother,”  said  a  Chippewa  chief  in  the  course  of 
one  of  the  interminable  harangues  delivered  during 
the  negotiation,  “you  asked  who  were  the  true 
owners  of  the  land  now  ceded  to  the  United  States. 
In  answer,  I  tell  you,  if  any  nations  should  call 
themselves  the  owners  of  it,  they  would  be  guilty 
of  falsehood;  our  claim  to  it  is  equal;  our  Elder 
Brother  has  conquered  it.”  The  United  States 
duly  recognized  the  Indian  title  to  all  lands  not 
expressly  ceded  and  promised  the  Indians  annual 
subsidies.  The  terms  of  the  treaty  were  faithfully 
observed  on  both  sides,  and  for  fifteen  years  the 
pioneer  lived  and  toiled  in  peace. 

Wayne  forthwith  became  a  national  hero.  Re¬ 
turning  to  Philadelphia  in  1796,  he  was  met  by  a 
guard  of  honor,  hailed  with  the  ringing  of  bells 
and  a  salute  of  fifteen  guns,  and  treated  to  a 
dazzling  display  of  fireworks.  Congress  voted  its 
thanks,  and  Washington,  whose  fears  had  long 


96 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


since  vanished,  added  his  congratulations.  There 
was  one  other  service  on  the  frontier  for  the  doughty 
general  to  render.  The  British  posts  were  at 
last  to  be  surrendered,  and  Wayne  was  designated 
to  receive  them.  By  midsummer  he  was  back  in 
the  forest  country,  and  in  the  autumn  he  took 
possession  of  Detroit,  amid  acclamations  of  In¬ 
dians,  Americans,  Frenchmen,  and  Englishmen 
alike.  But  his  work  was  done.  On  the  return 
journey  he  suffered  a  renewed  attack  of  his  old 
enemy,  gout,  and  at  Presqu’isle  (Erie)  he  died. 
A  blockhouse  modeled  on  the  defenses  which  he 
built  during  his  western  campaign  marks  his  first 
resting-place  and  bears  aloft  the  flag  which  he 
helped  plant  in  the  heart  of  the  Continent. 


CHAPTER  VI 


THE  GREAT  MIGRATION 

While  the  fate  of  the  Northwest  still  hung  in 
the  balance,  emigration  from  the  eastern  States 
became  the  rage.  “Every  small  farmer  whose 
barren  acres  were  covered  with  mortgages,  whose 
debts  pressed  heavily  upon  him,  or  whose  roving 
spirit  gave  him  no  peace,  was  eager  to  sell  his 
homestead  for  what  it  would  bring  and  begin  life 
anew  on  the  banks  of  the  Muskingum  or  the  Ohio.” 1 
Land  companies  were  then  just  as  optimistic  and 
persuasive  as  they  are  today,  and  the  attractions 
of  the  western  country  lost  nothing  in  the  telling. 
Pamphlets  described  the  climate  as  luxurious,  the 
soil  as  inexhaustible,  the  rainfall  as  both  abun¬ 
dant  and  well  distributed,  the  crops  as  unfailingly 
bountiful;  paid  agents  went  among  the  people 
assuring  them  that  a  man  of  push  and  courage 

1  McMaster,  History  of  the  People  of  the  United  States,  vol.  hi, 
p.  461. 


7 


97 


98 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


could  nowhere  be  so  prosperous  and  so  happy  as 
in  the  West. 

As  early  as  1787  an  observer  at  Pittsburgh  re¬ 
ported  that  in  six  weeks  he  saw  fifty  flatboats  set  off 
for  the  down-river  settlements;  in  1788  forty-five 
hundred  emigrants  were  said  to  have  passed  Fort 
Harmar  between  February  and  June.  Most  of 
these  people  were  bound  for  Kentucky  or  Tennes¬ 
see.  But  the  census  of  1790  gave  the  population 
north  of  the  Ohio  as  4,280,  and  after  Wayne’s  vic¬ 
tory  the  proportion  of  newcomers  who  fixed  their 
abodes  in  that  part  of  the  country  rapidly  increased. 
For  a  decade  Ohio  was  the  favorite  goal;  and 
within  eight  years  after  the  battle  at  Fallen  Tim¬ 
bers  this  region  was  ready  for  admission  to  the 
Union  as  a  State.  Southern  Indiana  also  filled 
rapidly. 

For  a  time  the  westward  movement  was  re¬ 
garded  as  of  no  disadvantage  to  the  seaboard 
States.  It  was  supposed  that  the  frontier  would 
attract  a  population  of  such  character  as  could 
easily  be  spared  in  more  settled  communities.  But 
it  became  apparent  that  the  new  country  did  not 
appeal  simply  to  broken-down  farmers,  bankrupts, 
and  ne’er-do-wells.  Robust  and  industrious  men, 
with  growing  families,  were  drawn  off  in  great 


THE  GREAT  MIGRATION 


99 


numbers;  and  public  protest  was  raised  against 
the  “ plots  to  drain  the  East  of  its  best  blood.” 
Anti-emigration  pamphlets  were  scattered  broad¬ 
cast,  and,  after  the  manner  of  the  day,  the  lead¬ 
ing  western  enterprises  were  belabored  with  much 
bad  verse.  A  rude  cut  which  gained  wide  circu¬ 
lation  represented  a  stout,  ruddy,  well-dressed 
man  on  a  sleek  horse,  with  a  label,  “I  am  going  to 
Ohio,”  meeting  a  pale  and  ghastly  skeleton  of  a 
man,  in  rags,  on  the  wreck  of  what  had  once  been  a 
horse,  with  the  label,  “I  have  been  to  Ohio.” 

The  streams  of  migration  flowed  from  many 
sources.  New  England  contributed  heavily.  Mari¬ 
etta,  Cincinnati,  and  many  other  rising  river 
towns  received  some  of  the  best  blood  of  that 
remote  section.  The  Western  Reserve  —  a  tract 
bordering  on  Lake  Erie  which  Connecticut  had 
not  ceded  to  the  Federal  Government  —  drew 
largely  from  the  Nutmeg  State.  A  month  before 
Wayne  set  out  to  take  possession  of  Detroit,  Moses 
Cleaveland  with  a  party  of  fifty  Connecticut 
homeseekers  started  off  to  found  a  settlement  in 
the  Reserve;  and  the  town  which  took  its  name 
from  the  leader  was  but  the  first  of  a  score  which 
promptly  sprang  up  in  this  inviting  district.  The 
“Seven  Ranges,”  lying  directly  south  of  the  Re- 


100 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


serve,  drew  emigrants  from  Pennsylvania,  with 
some  from  farther  south.  The  Scioto  valley  at¬ 
tracted  chiefly  Virginians,  who  early  made  Chilli- 
cothe  their  principal  center.  In  the  west,  and 
north  of  the  Symmes  tract,  Kentuckians  poured 
in  by  the  thousands. 

Thus  in  a  decade  Ohio  became  a  frontier  melting- 
pot.  Puritan,  Cavalier,  Irishman,  Scotch-Irish¬ 
man,  German  —  all  were  poured  into  the  cruci¬ 
ble.  Ideals  clashed,  and  differing  customs  grated 
harshly.  But  the  product  of  a  hundred  years  of 
cross-breeding  was  a  splendid  type  of  citizenship. 
At  the  presidential  inaugural  ceremonies  of  March 
4,  1881,  six  men  chiefly  attracted  the  attention 
of  the  crowd:  the  retiring  President,  Hayes;  the 
incoming  President,  Garfield;  the  Chief -Justice 
who  administered  the  oath,  Waite;  the  general 
commanding  the  army,  William  T.  Sherman;  the 
ex-Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  John  Sherman;  and 
“the  Marshal  Ney  of  America, ”  Lieutenant- 
General  Sheridan.  Five  of  the  six  were  natives  of 
Ohio,  and  the  sixth  was  a  lifelong  resident.  Men 
commented  on  the  striking  group  and  rightly  re¬ 
marked  that  it  could  have  been  produced  only  by 
a  singularly  happy  blending  of  the  ideas  and  ideals 
that  form  the  warp  and  woof  of  Americanism. 


THE  GREAT  MIGRATION 


101 


Amalgamation,  however,  took  time;  for  there 
were  towering  prejudices  and  antipathies  to  be 
overcome.  The  Yankee  scorned  the  Southerner, 
who  reciprocated  with  a  double  measure  of  dislike. 
The  New  England  settlers  were,  as  a  rule,  people 
of  some  education;  not  one  of  their  communities 
long  went  without  a  schoolmaster.  They  were 
pious,  law-abiding,  industrious;  their  more  easy¬ 
going  neighbors  were  likely  to  consider  them  over¬ 
sensitive  and  critical.  But  the  quality  that  made 
most  impression  upon  others  was  their  shrewdness 
in  business  transactions.  They  could  drive  a  bar¬ 
gain  and  could  discover  loopholes  in  a  contract 
in  a  fashion  to  take  the  average  backwoodsman 
off  his  feet.  “Yankee  trick”  became,  indeed,  a 
household  phrase  wherever  New  Englander  and 
Southerner  met.  Whether  the  Yankee  talked  or 
kept  silent,  whether  he  was  generous  or  parsimoni¬ 
ous,  he  was  always  under  suspicion. 

What  of  the  “Long  Knives”  from  Virginia,  the 
Carolinas,  and  Kentucky  who  also  made  the  Ohio 
lands  their  goal?  Of  books  they  knew  little;  they 
did  not  name  their  settlements  in  honor  of  classic 
heroes.  They  were  not  “gentlemen”;  many  of 
them,  indeed,  had  sought  the  West  to  escape  a 
society  in  which  distinctions  of  birth  and  posses- 


102 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


sions  had  put  them  at  a  disadvantage.  They  were 
not  so  pious  as  the  New  Englanders,  though  they 
were  capable  of  great  religious  enthusiasm,  and 
their  morals  were  probably  not  inferior.  Their 
houses  were  poorer;  their  villages  were  not  so  well 
kept;  their  dress  was  more  uncouth,  and  their  ways 
rougher.  But  they  were  a  hardy  folk  —  brave,  in¬ 
dustrious,  hospitable,  and  generous  to  a  fault. 

In  the  first  days  of  westward  migration  the 
favorite  gateway  into  the  Ohio  Valley  was  Cum¬ 
berland  Gap,  at  the  southeastern  corner  of  the 
present  State  of  Kentucky.  Thence  the  Virginians 
and  Carolinians  passed  easily  to  the  Ohio  in  the 
region  of  Cincinnati  or  Louisville.  Later  emi¬ 
grants  from  more  northern  States  found  other 
serviceable  routes.  Until  the  opening  of  the  Erie 
Canal  in  1825,  New  Englanders  reached  the  West 
by  three  main  avenues.  Some  followed  the  Mo¬ 
hawk  and  Genesee  turnpikes  across  central  New 
York  to  Lake  Erie.  This  route  led  directly,  of 
course,  to  the  Western  Reserve.  Some  traveled 
along  the  Catskill  turnpike  from  the  Hudson  to  the 
headwaters  of  the  Allegheny,  and  thence  descended 
the  Ohio.  Still  others  went  by  boat  from  Boston 
to  New  York,  Philadelphia,  or  Baltimore,  in  order 
to  approach  the  Ohio  by  a  more  southerly  course. 


THE  GREAT  MIGRATION 


103 


The  natural  outlet  from  Pennsylvania  was  the 
Ohio  River.  Emigrants  from  the  western  parts 
of  the  State  floated  down  the  Allegheny  or  Monon- 
gahela  to  the  main  stream.  Those  from  farther 
east,  including  settlers  from  New  Jersey,  made  the 
journey  overland  by  one  of  several  well-known 
roads.  The  best  of  these  was  a  turnpike  follow¬ 
ing  the  line  that  General  Forbes  had  cut  during 
the  French  and  Indian  War  from  Philadelphia  to 
Pittsburgh  by  way  of  Lancaster  and  Bedford. 
Baltimore  was  a  favorite  point  of  departure,  and 
from  it  the  route  lay  almost  invariably  along  a 
turnpike  to  Cumberland  on  the  upper  Potomac, 
and  thence  by  the  National  Road  across  the  moun¬ 
tains  to  Wheeling.  In  later  days  this  was  the 
route  chiefly  taken  from  Virginia,  although  more 
southerly  passes  through  the  Blue  Ridge  were  used 
as  outlets  to  the  Great  Kanawha,  the  Big  Sandy, 
and  other  streams  flowing  into  the  Ohio  farther 
down. 

Thus  the  lines  of  westward  travel  which  in  the 
East  spread  fan-shape  from  Maine  to  Georgia 
converged  on  the  Ohio;  and  that  stream  became, 
and  for  half  a  century  remained,  the  great  path¬ 
way  of  empire.  Most  of  the  emigrants  had  to 
cover  long  distances  in  overland  travel  before  they 


i 


104 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


reached  the  hospitable  waterway;  some,  especially 
in  earlier  times,  made  the  entire  journey  by  land. 
Hundreds  of  the  very  poor  w'ent  afoot,  carrying 
all  their  earthly  possessions  on  their  backs,  or 
dragging  them  in  rude  carts.  But  the  usual  con¬ 
veyance  was  the  canvas-covered  wagon  —  an¬ 
cestor  of  the  “prairie  schooner”  of  the  western 
plains  —  drawn  over  the  rough  and  muddy  roads 
by  four,  or  even  six,  horses.  In  this  vehicle  the 
emigrants  stowed  their  provisions,  household  furni¬ 
ture  and  utensils,  agricultural  implements,  looms, 
seeds,  medicines,  and  every  sort  of  thing  that  the 
prudent  householder  expected  to  need,  and  for 
which  he  could  find  space.  Extra  horses  or  oxen 
sometimes  drew  an  additional  load;  cattle,  and 
even  flocks  of  sheep,  were  occasionally  driven  ahead 
or  behind  by  some  member  of  the  family. 

In  the  years  of  heaviest  migration  the  high- 
ways  converging  on  Pittsburgh  and  Wheeling  were 
fairly  crowded  with  westward-flowing  traffic.  As 
a  rule  several  families,  perhaps  from  the  same 
neighborhood  in  the  old  home,  traveled  together; 
and  in  any  case  the  chance  acquaintances  of  the 
road  and  of  the  wayside  inns  broke  the  loneliness 
of  the  journey.  There  were  wonderful  things  to 
be  seen,  and  every  day  brought  novel  experiences. 


THE  GREAT  MIGRATION 


105 


But  exposure  and  illness,  dread  of  Indian  attacks, 
mishaps  of  every  sort,  and  the  awful  sense  of  isola¬ 
tion  and  of  uncertainty  of  the  future,  caused  many 
a  man’s  stout  heart  to  quail,  and  brought  anguish 
unspeakable  to  brave  women.  Of  such  joys  and 
sorrows,  however,  is  a  frontier  existence  com¬ 
pounded;  and  of  the  growing  thousands  who  turned 
their  faces  toward  the  setting  sun,  comparatively 
few  yielded  to  discouragement  and  went  back 
East.  Those  who  did  so  were  usually  the  land 
speculators  and  people  of  weak,  irresolute,  or  shift¬ 
less  character. 

An  English  traveler,  Morris  Birkbeck,  who 
passed  over  the  National  Road  through  south¬ 
western  Pennsylvania  in  1817,  was  filled  with 
amazement  at  the  number,  hardihood,  and  deter¬ 
mination  of  the  emigrants  whom  he  encountered. 

Old  America  seems  to  be  breaking  up  [he  wrote]  and 
moving  westward.  We  are  seldom  out  of  sight,  as  we 
travel  on  this  grand  track,  towards  the  Ohio,  of  family 
groups,  behind  and  before  us.  .  .  .  A  small  wagon  (so 
light  that  you  might  almost  carry  it,  yet  strong  enough 
to  bear  a  good  load  of  bedding,  utensils  and  provisions, 
and  a  swarm  of  young  citizens  —  and  to  sustain  mar¬ 
velous  shocks  in  its  passage  over  these  rocky  heights) 
with  two  small  horses;  sometimes  a  cow  or  two,  com¬ 
prises  their  all;  excepting  a  little  store  of  hard-earned 


106 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


cash  for  the  land  office  of  the  district;  where  they  may 
obtain  a  title  for  as  many  acres  as  they  possess  half- 
dollars,  being  one  fourth  of  the  purchase  money.  The 
wagon  has  a  tilt,  or  cover,  made  of  a  sheet,  or  perhaps  a 
blanket.  The  family  are  seen  before,  behind,  or  within 
the  vehicle,  according  to  the  road  or  the  weather,  or 
perhaps  the  spirits  of  the  party.  ...  A  cart  and  sin¬ 
gle  horse  frequently  affords  the  means  of  transfer, 
sometimes  a  horse  and  pack-saddle.  Often  the  back 
of  the  poor  pilgrim  bears  all  his  effects,  and  his  wife 
follows,  naked-footed,  bending  under  the  hopes  of  the 
'  family. 1 

Arrived  at  the  Ohio,  the  emigrant  either  engaged 
passage  on  some  form  of  river-craft  or  set  to  work 
to  construct  with  his  own  hands  a  vessel  that  would 
bear  him  and  his  belongings  to  the  promised  land. 
The  styles  of  river-craft  that  appeared  on  the  Ohio 
and  other  western  streams  in  the  great  era  of 
river  migration  make  a  remarkable  pageant.  There 
were  canoes,  pirogues,  skiffs,  rafts,  dugouts,  scows, 
galleys,  arks,  keelboats,  flatboats,  barges,  “broad- 
horns,”  “sneak-boxes,”  and  eventually  ocean-go¬ 
ing  brigs,  schooners,  and  steamboats.  The  canoe 
served  the  early  explorer  and  trader,  and  even 
the  settler  whose  possessions  had  been  carried  over 
the  Alleghanies  on  a  single  packhorse.  But  af¬ 
ter  the  Revolution  the  needs  of  an  awakening 
1  Quoted  in  Turner,  Rise  of  the  New  West,  pp.  79-80. 


THE  GREAT  MIGRATION 


107 


empire  led  to  the  introduction  of  new  types  of 
craft,  built  to  afford  a  maximum  of  capacity  and 
safety  on  a  downward  voyage,  without  regard  for 
the  demands  of  a  round  trip.  The  most  common 
of  these  one-way  vessels  was  the  flatboat. 

A  flatboat  trip  down  the  great  river  was  likely 
to  be  filled  with  excitement.  The  sound  of  the 
steam-dredge  had  never  been  heard  on  the  west¬ 
ern  waters,  and  the  stream-bed  was  as  Nature 
had  made  it,  or  rather  was  continually  remaking 
it.  Yearly  floods  washed  out  new  channels  and 
formed  new  reefs  and  sand-bars,  while  logs  and 
brush  borne  from  the  heavily  forested  banks  con¬ 
tinually  built  new  obstructions.  Consequently 
the  sharpest  lookout  had  to  be  maintained,  and 
the  pilot  was  both  skilful  and  lucky  who  com¬ 
pleted  his  trip  without  permitting  his  boat  to  be 
caught  on  a  “planter”  (a  log  immovably  fixed 
in  the  river  bed),  entangled  in  the  branches  of 
overhanging  trees,  driven  on  an  island,  or  dashed 
on  the  bank  at  a  bend.  Navigation  by  night  and 
on  foggy  days  was  hazardous  in  the  extreme  and 
was  avoided  as  far  as  possible.  If  all  went  well, 
the  voyage  from  Pittsburgh  to  Cincinnati  could 
be  completed  in  six  or  eight  days;  but  delays  might 
easily  extend  the  period  to  a  month. 


108 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


One  grave  danger  has  not  been  mentioned  — 
the  Indians.  From  the  moment  when  the  slow- 
moving  flatboat  passed  beyond  the  protection  of  a 
white  settlement,  it  was  liable  to  be  fired  on,  by 
day  or  by  night,  by  redskins;  and  the  better- 
built  boats  were  so  constructed  as  to  be  at  least 
partially  bullet-proof.  Sometimes  extra  timber 
was  used  to  give  safety;  sometimes  the  cargo  was 
specially  placed  with  that*  aim  in  view.  The 
Indians  rarely  went  beyond  the  water’s  edge. 
Their  favorite  ruse  was  to  cause  captive  or  rene¬ 
gade  whites  to  run  along  the  bank  imploring  to  be 
saved.  When  a  boat  had  been  decoyed  to  shore, 
and  perhaps  a  landing  had  been  made,  the  savages 
would  pour  a  murderous  fire  on  the  voyagers. 
This  practice  became  so  common  that  pioneer 
boats  “shunned  the  whites  who  hailed  them  from 
the  shores  as  they  would  have  shunned  the  Indi¬ 
ans,”  and  as  a  consequence  many  whites  escaping 
from  the  Indians  in  the  interior  were  refused  suc¬ 
cor  and  left  to  die. 

When  the  flatboat  reached  its  destination,  it 
might  find  service  as  a  floating  store,  or  even  as  a 
schoolhouse.  But  it  was  likely  to  be  broken  up, 
so  that  the  materials  in  it  could  be  used  for  building 
purposes.  Before  sawmills  became  common,  lum- 


THE  GREAT  MIGRATION 


109 


ber  was  a  precious  commodity,  and  hundreds  of 
pioneer  cabins  in  the  Ohio  Valley  were  built  partly 
or  wholly  of  the  boards  and  timbers  taken  from 
the  flatboats  of  their  owners.  Even  the  “gun¬ 
nels  ”  were  sometimes  used  in  Cincinnati  as  founda¬ 
tions  for  houses.  In  later  days  the  flatboat,  if  in 
reasonably  good  condition,  was  not  unlikely  to 
be  sold  to  persons  engaged  in  trading  down  the 
Mississippi.  Loaded  with  grain,  flour,  meats,  and 
other  backwoods  products,  it  would  descend  to 
Natchez  or  New  Orleans,  where  its  cargo  could  be 
transferred  to  ocean-going  craft.  But  in  any  case 
its  end  was  the  same;  for  it  would  not  have  been 
profitable,  even  had  it  been  physically  possible, 
to  move  the  heavy,  ungainly  craft  upstream  over 
long  distances,  in  order  to  keep  it  continuously  in 


service. 


CHAPTER  VII 


PIONEER  DAYS  AND  WAYS 

Arrived  on  the  lower  Ohio,  or  one  of  its  tribu¬ 
taries,  the  pioneer  looked  out  upon  a  land  of 
remarkable  riches.  It  was  not  a  Mexico  or  a 
Peru,  with  emblazoned  palaces  and  glittering  tem¬ 
ples,  nor  yet  a  California,  with  gold-flecked  sands. 
It  was  merely  an  unending  stretch  of  wooded 
hills  and  grassy  plains,  bedecked  with  majestic 
forests  and  fructifying  rivers  and  lakes.  It  had 
no  treasures  save  for  the  man  of  courage,  indus¬ 
try,  and  patience;  but  for  such  it  held  home,  broad 
acres,  liberty,  and  the  coveted  opportunity  for  so¬ 
cial  equality  and  advancement. 

The  new  country  has  been  commonly  thought 

of,  and  referred  to  by  writers  on  the  history  of  the 

West,  as  a  “ wilderness”;  and  offhand,  one  might 

suppose  that  the  settlers  were  obliged  literally  to 

hew  their  way  through  densely  grown  vegetation 

to  the  spots  which  they  selected  for  tneir  homes. 

no 


PIONEER  DAYS  AND  WAYS 


111 


In  point  of  fact,  there  were  great  areas  of  upland 
—  not  alone  in  the  prairie  country  of  northern 
Indiana  and  Illinois,  but  in  the  hilly  regions 
within  a  hundred  miles  of  the  Ohio  —  that  were 
almost  treeless.  On  these  unobstructed  stretches 
grasses  grew  in  profusion;  and  here  roamed  great 
herds  of  herbivorous  animal-kind  —  deer  and  elk, 
and  also  buffalo,  ‘‘filing  in  grave  procession  to 
drink  at  the  rivers,  plunging  and  snorting  among 
the  rapids  and  quicksands,  rolling  their  huge  bulk 
on  the  grass,  rushing  upon  each  other  in  hot  en¬ 
counter,  like  champions  under  shield.”  Along  the 
watercourses  ducks,  wild  geese,  cranes,  herons,  and 
other  fowl  sounded  their  harsh  cries;  gray  squirrels, 
prairie  chickens,  and  partridges  the  hunter  found 
at  every  turn. 

Furthermore,  the  forests,  as  a  rule,  were  not 
difficult  to  penetrate.  The  trees  stood  thick,  but 
deer  paths,  buffalo  roads,  and  Indian  trails  ramified 
in  all  directions,  and  sometimes  were  wide  enough 
to  allow  two  or  three  wagons  to  advance  abreast. 
Mighty  poplars,  beeches,  sycamores,  and  “sugars” 
pushed  to  great  heights  in  quest  of  air  and  sunshine, 
and  often  their  intertwining  branches  were  locked 
solidly  together  by  a  heavy  growth  of  grape  or 
other  vines,  producing  a  canopy  which  during  the 


112 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


summer  months  permitted  scarcely  a  ray  of  sun¬ 
light  to  reach  the  ground.  There  was,  therefore, 
a  notable  absence  of  undergrowth.  When  a  tree 
died  and  decayed,  it  fell  apart  piecemeal;  it  was 
with  difficulty  that  woodsmen  could  wrest  a  giant 
oak  or  poplar  from  its  moorings  and  bring  it  to  the 
ground,  even  by  severing  the  trunk  completely  at 
the  base.  Here  and  there  a  clean  swath  was  cut 
through  a  forest,  for  perhaps  dozens  of  miles,  by  a 
hurricane.  This  gave  opportunity  for  the  growth 
of  a  thicket  of  bushes  and  small  trees,  and  such 
spots  were  equally  likely  to  be  the  habitations  of 
wild  beasts  and  the  hiding-places  of  warlike  bands 
of  redskins. 

There  were  always  adventurous  pioneers  who 
scorned  the  settlements  and  went  off  with  their 
families  to  fix  their  abodes  in  isolated  places.  But 
the  average  newcomer  preferred  to  find  a  location 
in,  or  reasonably  near,  a  settlement.  The  choice 
of  a  site,  whether  by  a  company  of  immigrants 
wishing  to  establish  a  settlement  or  by  an  individual 
settler,  was  a  matter  of  much  importance.  Some 
thought  must  be  given  to  facilities  for  fortification 
against  hostile  natives.  There  must  be  an  ade¬ 
quate  supply  of  drinking-water;  and  the  loca¬ 
tion  of  innumerable  pioneer  dwellings  was  selected 


PIONEER  DAYS  AND  WAYS 


113 


with  reference  to  free-flowing  springs.  Pasture 
land  for  immediate  use  was  desirable;  and  of  course 
the  soil  must  be  fertile.  As  a  rule,  the  settler 
had  the  alternative  of  establishing  himself  on  the 
lowlands  along  a  stream  and  obtaining  ground  of 
the  greatest  productiveness,  with  the  almost  certain 
prospect  of  annual  attacks  of  malaria,  or  of  seek¬ 
ing  the  poorer  but  more  healthful  uplands.  The 
attractions  of  the  “bottoms”  were  frequently  ir¬ 
resistible,  and  the  “ague”  became  a  feature  of 
frontier  life  almost  as  inevitable  as  the  proverbial 
“death  and  taxes.” 

The  site  selected,  the  next  task  was  to  clear  a 
few  acres  of  ground  where  the  cabin  was  to  stand. 
It  was  highly  desirable  to  have  a  belt  of  open  land 
as  a  protection  against  Indians  and  wild  beasts; 
besides,  there  must  be  fields  cleared  for  tillage. 
If  the  settler  had  neighbors,  he  was  likely  to  have 
their  aid  in  cutting  away  the  densest  growth  of 
trees,  and  in  raising  into  position  the  heavy  tim¬ 
bers  which  formed  the  framework  and  walls  of  his 
cabin.  Splendid  oaks,  poplars,  and  sycamores 
were  cut  into  convenient  lengths,  and  such  as 
could  not  be  used  were  rolled  into  great  heaps 
and  burned.  Before  sawmills  were  introduced 
lumber  could  not  be  manufactured;  afterwards. 


8 


114  THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 

it  became  so  plentiful  as  to  have  small  market 
value. 

Almost  without  exception  the  frontier  cabins  had 
log  walls;  and  they  were  rarely  of  larger  size  than 
single  lengths  would  permit.  On  an  average,  they 
were  twelve  or  fourteen  feet  wide  and  fifteen  or 
eighteen  feet  long.  Sometimes  they  were  divided 
into  two  rooms,  with  an  attic  above;  frequently 
there  was  but  one  room  “ downstairs.”  The  logs 
were  notched  together  at  the  corners,  and  the  spaces 
between  them  were  filled  with  moss  or  clay  or 
covered  with  bark.  Rafters  were  affixed  to  the 
uppermost  logs,  and  to  one  another,  with  wooden 
pins  driven  through  auger  holes.  In  earliest  times 
the  roof  was  of  bark;  later  on,  shingles  were  used, 
although  nails  were  long  unknown,  and  the  shingles, 
after  being  laid  in  rows,  were  weighted  down  with 
straight  logs. 

Sometimes  there  was  only  an  earth  floor.  But 
as  a  rule  “puncheons,”  i.  e.,  thick,  rough  boards 
split  from  logs,  were  laid  crosswise  on  round  logs 
and  were  fastened  with  wooden  pins.  There  was 
commonly  but  a  single  door,  which  was  made 
also  of  puncheons  and  hung  on  wooden  hinges. 
A  favorite  device  was  to  construct  the  door  in 
upper  and  lower  sections,  so  as  to  make  it  possible. 


PIONEER  DAYS  AND  WAYS  115 

when  there  came  a  knock  or  a  call  from  the  out¬ 
side,  to  respond  without  offering  easy  entrance  to 
an  unwelcome  visitor.  In  the  days  when  there 
was  considerable  danger  of  Indian  attacks  no 
windows  were  constructed,  for  the  householder 
could  defend  only  one  aperture.  Later,  square 
holes  which  could  be  securely  barred  at  night  and 
during  cold  weather  were  made  to  serve  as  win¬ 
dows.  Flat  pieces  of  sandstone,  if  they  could  be 
found,  were  used  in  building  the  great  fireplace; 
otherwise,  thick  timbers  heavily  covered  with  clay 
were  made  to  serve.  In  scarcely  a  cabin  was  there 
a  trace  of  iron  or  glass;  the  whole  could  be  con¬ 
structed  with  only  two  implements  —  an  ax  and 
an  auger. 

Occasionally  a  family  carried  to  its  new  home 
some  treasured  bits  of  furniture;  but  the  difficulty 
of  transportation  was  likely  to  be  prohibitive,  and 
as  a  rule  the  cabins  contained  only  such  pieces  of 
furniture  as  could  be  fashioned  on  the  spot.  A 
table  was  made  by  mounting  a  smoothed  slab  on 
four  posts,  set  in  auger  holes.  For  seats  short 
benches  and  three-legged  stools,  constructed  after 
the  manner  of  the  tables,  were  in  common  use. 
Cooking  utensils,  food-supplies,  seeds,  herbs  for 
medicinal  purposes,  and  all  sorts  of  household 


110 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


appliances  were  stowed  away  on  shelves,  made  by 
laying  clapboards  across  wooden  pins  driven  into 
the  wall  and  mounting  to  the  ceiling;  although  after 
sawed  lumber  came  into  use  it  was  a  matter  of  no 
great  difficulty  to  construct  chests  and  cupboards. 
Not  infrequently  the  settler’s  family  slept  on  bear 
skins  or  blankets  stretched  on  the  floor.  But 
crude  bedsteads  were  made  by  erecting  a  pole  with 
a  fork  in  such  a  manner  that  other  poles  could  be 
supported  horizontally  in  this  fork  and  by  crevices 
in  the  walls.  Split  boards  served  as  “slats”  on 
which  the  bedding  was  spread.  For  a  long  time 
“straw-ticks”  —  large  cloth  bags  filled  with  straw 
or  sometimes  dry  grass  or  leaves  —  were  articles  of 
luxury.  Iron  pots  and  knives  were  necessities 
which  the  wise  householder  carried  with  him  from 
his  eastern  or  southern  home.  In  the  West  they 
were  hard  to  obtain.  The  chief  source  of  supply 
was  the  iron-manufacturing  districts  of  Pennsyl¬ 
vania  and  Virginia,  whence  the  wares  were  carried 
to  the  entrepots  of  river  trade  by  packhorses. 
The  kitchen  outfit  of  the  average  newcomer  was 
completed  with  a  few  pewter  dishes,  plates,  and 
spoons.  But  winter  evenings  were  utilized  in 
whittling  out  wooden  bowls,  trenchers,  and  noggins 
or  cups,  while  gourds  and  hard-shelled  squashes 


PIONEER  DAYS  AND  WAYS  117 

were  turned  to  numerous  uses.  The  commonest 
drinking  utensil  was  a  long-handled  gourd. 

The  dress  of  the  pioneer  long  remained  a  curious 
cross  between  that  of  the  Indians  and  that  of  the 
white  people  of  the  older  sections.  In  earlier 
times  the  hunting-shirt  —  made  of  linsey,  coarse 
nettle-bark  linen,  buffalo-hair,  or  even  dressed 
deerskins  —  was  universally  worn  by  the  men, 
together  with  breeches,  leggings,  and  moccasins. 
The  women  and  children  were  dressed  in  simple 
garments  of  linsey.  In  warm  weather  they  went 
barefooted;  in  cold,  they  wore  moccasins  or  coarse 
shoes. 

Rarely  was  there  lack  of  food  for  these  pioneer 
families.  The  soil  was  prodigal,  and  the  forests 
abounded  in  game.  The  piece  de  resistance  of  the 
backwoods  menu  was  “hog  an’  hominy”;  that  is 
to  say,  pork  served  with  Indian  corn  wdiich,  after 
being  boiled  in  lye  to  remove  the  hulls,  had  been 
soaked  in  clear  water  and  cooked  soft.  “Johnny 
cake”  and  “pone”  —  two  varieties  of  cornbread 
—  were  regularly  eaten  at  breakfast  and  dinner. 
The  standard  dish  for  supper  was  cornmeal  mush 
and  milk.  As  cattle  were  not  numerous,  the 
housewife  often  lacked  milk,  in  which  case  she 
fell  back  on  her  one  never-failing  resource  — 


:  boston  collect 

faculty  library 

'estnut  hill,  mas;  i 


118 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


hominy;  or  she  served  the  mush  with  sweetened 
water,  molasses,  the  gravy  of  fried  meat,  or  even 
bear’s  oil.  Tea  and  coffee  were  long  unknown, 
and  when  introduced  they  were  likely  to  be  scorned 
by  the  men  as  “slops”  good  enough  perhaps  for 
women  and  children.  Vegetables  the  settlers  grew 
in  the  garden  plot  which  ordinarily  adjoined  the 
house,  and  thrifty  families  had  also  a  “  truck  patch  ” 
in  which  they  raised  pumpkins,  squashes,  potatoes, 
beans,  melons,  and  corn  for  “roasting  ears.”  The 
forests  yielded  game,  as  well  as  fruits  and  wild 
grapes,  and  honey  for  sweetening. 

The  first  quality  for  which  the  life  of  the  fron¬ 
tier  called  was  untiring  industry.  It  was  possible, 
of  course,  to  eke  out  an  existence  by  hunting, 
fishing,  petty  trading,  and  garnering  the  fruits 
which  Nature  supplied  without  man’s  assistance. 
And  many  pioneers  in  whom  the  roving  instinct 
was  strong  went  on  from  year  to  year  in  this  hand- 
to-mouth  fashion.  But  the  settler  who  expected 
to  be  a  real  home-builder,  to  gain  some  measure 
of  wealth,  to  give  his  children  a  larger  opportunity 
in  life,  must  be  prepared  to  work,  to  plan,  to 
economize,  and  to  sacrifice.  The  forests  had  to  be 
felled;  the  great  logs  had  to  be  rolled  together  and 
burned;  crops  of  maize,  tobacco,  oats,  and  cane 


PIONEER  DAYS  AND  WAYS 


119 


needed  to  be  planted,  cultivated,  and  harvested; 
live  stock  to  be  housed  and  fed;  fences  and  barns 
to  be  built;  pork,  beef,  grain,  whiskey,  and  other 
products  to  be  prepared  for  market,  and  perhaps 
carried  scores  of  miles  to  a  place  of  shipment. 

All  these  things  had  to  be  done  under  conditions 
of  exceptional  difficulty.  The  settler  never  knew 
what  night  his  place  would  be  raided  by  maraud¬ 
ing  redskins,  who  would  be  lenient  indeed  if  they 
merely  carried  off  part  of  his  cattle  or  burned  his 
barn.  Any  morning  he  might  peer  out  of  the 
“port  hole”  above  the  cabin  door  to  see  skulking 
figures  awaiting  their  chance.  Sickness,  too,  was 
a  menace  and  a  terror.  Picture  the  horrors  of 
isolation  in  times  of  emergency  —  wife  or  child 
suddenly  taken  desperately  ill,  and  no  physician 
within  a  hundred  miles;  husband  or  son  hovering 
between  life  and  death  as  the  result  of  injury  by  a 
falling  tree,  a  wild  beast,  a  venomous  snake,  an 
accidental  gun-shot,  or  the  tomahawk  of  a  prowl¬ 
ing  Indian.  Who  shall  describe  the  anxiety,  the 
agony,  which  in  some  measure  must  have  been 
the  lot  of  every  frontier  family?  The  prosaic  ill¬ 
nesses  of  the  flesh  were  troublesome  enough.  On 
account  of  defective  protection  for  the  feet  in  wet 
weather,  almost  everybody  had  rheumatism;  most 


120  THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 

settlers  in  the  bottom-lands  fell  victims  to  fever 
and  ague  at  one  time  or  another;  even  in  the 
hill  country  few  persons  wholly  escaped  malarial 
disorders.  “When  this  home-building  and  land¬ 
clearing  is  accomplished/’  wrote  one  whose  recollec¬ 
tions  of  the  frontier  were  vivid,  “a  faithful  picture 
would  reveal  not  only  the  changes  that  have  been 
wrought,  but  a  host  of  prematurely  broke-down 
men  and  women,  besides  an  undue  proportion  rest¬ 
ing  peacefully  in  country  graveyards.” 

The  frontiersman’s  best  friend  was  his  trusty 
rifle.  With  it  he  defended  his  cabin  and  his  crops 
from  marauders,  waged  warfare  on  hostile  red¬ 
skins,  and  obtained  the  game  which  formed  an  in¬ 
dispensable  part  of  his  food  supply.  At  first  the 
gun  chiefly  used  on  the  border  was  the  smooth- 
bored  musket.  But  toward  the  close  of  the  eigh¬ 
teenth  century  a  gunsmith  named  Deckhard,  liv¬ 
ing  at  Lancaster,  Pennsylvania,  began  making 
flintlock  rifles  of  small  bore,  and  in  a  short  time 
the“  Deckhard  rifle”  was  to  be  found  in  the  hands 
of  almost  every  backwoodsman.  The  barrel  was 
heavy  and  from  three  feet  to  three  feet  and  a  half 
in  length,  so  that  the  piece,  when  set  on  the  ground, 
reached  at  least  to  the  huntsman’s  shoulder.  The 
bore  was  cut  with  twisting  grooves,  and  was  so 


PIONEER  DAYS  AND  WAYS 


m 


small  that  seventy  bullets  were  required  to  weigh 
a  pound.  In  loading,  a  greased  linen  “patch” 
was  wrapped  around  the  bullet;  and  only  a  small 
charge  of  powder  was  needed.  The  gun  was 
heavy  to  carry  and  difficult  to  hold  steadily  upon  a 
target;  but  it  was  economical  of  ammunition,  and 
in  the  hands  of  the  strong-muscled,  keen-eyed, 
iron-nerved  frontiersman  it  was  an  exceedingly 
accurate  weapon,  at  all  events  within  the  ordinary 
limits  of  forest  ranges.  He  was  a  poor  marksman 
who  could  not  shoot  running  deer  or  elk  at  a  dis¬ 
tance  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  yards,  and  kill  ducks 
and  geese  on  the  wing;  and  “boys  of  twelve  hung 
their  heads  in  shame  if  detected  in  hitting  a  squir¬ 
rel  in  any  other  part  of  the  body  than  its  head.” 

Life  on  the  frontier  was  filled  with  hard  work, 
danger,  and  anxiety.  Yet  it  had  its  lighter  side, 
and,  indeed,  it  may  be  doubted  whether  people 
anywhere  relished  sport  more  keenly  or  found  more 
pleasure  in  their  everyday  pursuits.  The  occa¬ 
sional  family  without  neighbors  was  likely  to  suf¬ 
fer  from  loneliness.  But  few  of  the  settlers  were 
thus  cut  off,  and  as  a  rule  community  life  was 
not  only  physically  possible  but  highly  developed. 
Many  were  the  opportunities  that  served  to  bring 
together  the  frontiersmen,  with  their  families, 


122 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


throughout  a  settlement  or  county.  Foremost 
among  such  occasions  were  the  log-rollings. 

After  a  settler  had  felled  the  thick-growing 
trees  on  a  plot  which  he  desired  to  prepare  for 
cultivation,  he  cut  them,  either  by  sawing  or  by 
burning,  into  logs  twelve  or  fifteen  feet  in  length. 
Frequently  these  were  three,  four,  or  even  five 
feet  in  diameter,  so  that  they  could  not  be  moved 
by  one  man,  even  with  a  team  of  horses.  In  such 
a  situation,  the  settler  would  send  word  to  his 
neighbors  for  miles  around  that  on  a  given  day 
there  wTould  be  a  log-rolling  at  his  place;  and  when 
the  day  arrived  six,  or  a  dozen,  or  perhaps  a  score, 
of  sturdy  men,  with  teams  of  horses  and  yokes  of 
oxen,  and  very  likely  accompanied  by  members 
of  their  families,  would  arrive  on  the  scene  with 
merry  shouts  of  anticipation.  By  means  of  hand¬ 
spikes  and  chains  drawn  by  horses  or  oxen,  the 
great  timbers  were  pushed,  rolled,  and  dragged 
into  heaps,  and  by  nightfall  the  field  lay  open 
and  ready  for  the  plough  —  requiring,  at  the  most, 
only  the  burning  of  the  huge  piles  that  had  been 
gathered. 

Without  loss  of  time  the  fires  were  started;  and 
as  darkness  came  on,  the  countryside  glowed  as 
with  the  light  of  a  hundred  huge  torches.  The 


PIONEER  DAYS  AND  WAYS 


123 


skies  were  reddened,  and  as  a  mighty  oak  or  poplar 
log  toppled  and  fell  to  the  ground,  showers  of 
sparks  lent  the  scene  volcanic  splendor.  Bats  and 
owls  and  other  dim-eyed  creatures  of  the  night 
flew  about  in  bewilderment,  sometimes  bumping 
hard  against  fences  or  other  objects,  sometimes 
plunging  madly  into  the  flames  and  contributing 
to  the  general  holocaust.  For  days  the  great 
fires  were  kept  going,  until  the  last  remnants  of 
this  section  of  the  once  imposing  forest  were  con¬ 
sumed;  while  smoke  hung  far  out  over  the  coun¬ 
try,  producing  an  atmospheric  effect  like  that  of 
Indian  summer. 

Heavy  exertion  called  for  generous  refreshment, 
and  on  these  occasions  the  host  could  be  depended 
on  to  provide  an  abundance  of  food  and  drink. 
The  little  cabin  could  hardly  be  made  to  accommo¬ 
date  so  many  guests,  even  in  relays.  Accordingly, 
a  long  table  was  constructed  with  planks  and  tres¬ 
tles  in  a  shady  spot,  and  at  noon  —  and  perhaps 
again  in  the  evening  —  the  women  folk  served  a 
meal  which  at  least  made  up  in  “staying  quali¬ 
ties”  what  it  lacked  in  variety  or  delicacy.  The 
principal  dish  was  almost  certain  to  be  “pot-pie,” 
consisting  of  boiled  turkeys,  geese,  chickens, 
grouse,  veal,  or  venison,  with  an  abundance  of 


124 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


dumplings.  This,  with  cornbread  and  milk,  met 
the  demands  of  the  occasion;  but  if  the  host  was 
able  to  furnish  a  cask  of  rum,  his  generosity  was 
thoroughly  appreciated. 

In  the  autumn,  corn-huskings  were  a  favorite 
form  of  diversion,  especially  for  the  young  people; 
and  in  the  early  spring  neighbors  sometimes  came 
together  to  make  maple  sugar.  A  wedding  was 
an  important  event  and  furnished  diversion  of 
a  different  kind.  From  distances  of  twenty  and 
thirty  miles  people  came  to  attend  the  ceremony, 
and  often  the  festivities  extended  over  two  or 
three  days.  Even  now  there  was  work  to  be  done; 
for  as  a  rule  the  neighbors  organized  a  house¬ 
building  “bee,”  and  before  separating  for  their 
homes  they  constructed  a  cabin  for  the  newly 
wedded  pair,  or  at  all  events  brought  it  sufficiently 
near  completion  to  be  finished  by  the  young  hus¬ 
band  himself. 

Even  after  a  day  of  heavy  toil  at  log-rolling,  the 
young  men  and  boys  bantered  one  another  into 
foot  races,  wrestling  matches,  shooting  contests, 
and  other  feats  of  strength  or  skill.  And  if  a 
fiddler  could  be  found,  the  day  was  sure  to  end 
with  a  “hoe-down”  —  a  dance  that  “made  even 
the  log-’walled  house  tremble.”  No  corn-husking 


PIONEER  DAYS  AND  WAYS 


125 


or  wedding  was  complete  without  dancing,  al¬ 
though  members  of  certain  of  the  more  strait¬ 
laced  religious  sects  already  frowned  upon  the 
diversion. 

Rough  conditions  of  living  made  rough  men,  and 
wre  need  not  be  surprised  by  the  testimony  of  Eng¬ 
lish  and  American  travelers,  that  the  frontier  had 
more  than  its  share  of  boisterous  fun,  rowdyism, 
lawlessness,  and  crime.  The  taste  for  whiskey 
was  universal,  and  large  quantities  were  manu¬ 
factured  in  rude  stills,  not  only  for  shipment  down 
the  Mississippi,  but  for  local  consumption.  Fre¬ 
quenters  of  the  river-town  taverns  called  for  their 
favorite  brands  — “Race  Horse, ”  “Moral  Sua¬ 
sion,”  “Vox  Populi,”  “Pig  and  Whistle,”  or 
“Split  Ticket,”  as  the  case  might  be.  But  the 
average  frontiersman  cared  little  for  the  niceties 
of  color  or  flavor  so  long  as  his  liquor  was  cheap 
and  produced  the  desired  effect.  Hard  work  and 
a  monotonous  diet  made  him  continually  thirsty; 
and  while  ordinarily  he  drank  only  water  and 
milk  at  home,  at  the  taverns  and  at  social  gather¬ 
ings  he  often  succumbed  to  potations  which  left 
him  in  happy  drunken  forgetfulness  of  daily 
hardships.  House-raisings  and  weddings  often 
became  orgies  marked  by  quarreling  and  fighting 


126 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


and  terminating  in  brutal  and  bloody  brawls. 
Foreign  visitors  to  the  back  country  were  led  to 
comment  frequently  on  the  number  of  men  who  had 
lost  an  eye  or  an  ear,  or  had  been  otherwise  maimed 
in  these  rough-and-tumble  contests. 

The  great  majority  of  the  frontiersmen,  how¬ 
ever,  were  sober,  industrious,  and  law-abiding  folk; 
and  they  were  by  no  means  beyond  the  pale  of 
religion.  On  account  of  the  numbers  of  Scotch- 
'  Irish,  Presbyterianism  was  in  earlier  days  the 
principal  creed,  although  there  were  many  Catho¬ 
lics  and  adherents  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  and 
German  churches,  and  even  a  few  Episcopalians. 
About  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century 
sectarian  ascendancy  passed  to  the  Methodists 
and  Baptists,  whose  ranks  were  rapidly  recruited 
by  means  of  one  of  the  most  curious  and  char¬ 
acteristic  of  backwoods  institutions,  the  camp¬ 
meeting  “revival.”  The  years  1799  and  1800 
brought  the  first  of  the  several  great  waves  of 
religious  excitement  by  which  the  West  —  espe¬ 
cially  Ohio,  Indiana,  Kentucky,  and  Tennessee  — 
was  periodically  swept  until  within  the  memory  of 
men  still  living. 

Camp -meetings  were  usually  planned  and  man¬ 
aged  by  Methodist  circuit-riders  or  Baptist  itiner- 


I 


PIONEER  DAYS  AND  WAYS 


127 


ant  preachers,  who  hesitated  not  to  carry  their 
work  into  the  remotest  and  most  dangerous  parts 
of  the  back  country.  When  the  news  went  abroad 
that  such  a  meeting  was  to  take  place,  people 
flocked  to  the  scene  from  far  and  near,  in  wagons, 
on  horseback,  and  on  foot.  Pious  men  and  women 
came  for  the  sake  of  religious  fellowship  and  in¬ 
spiration;  others  not  so  pious  came  from  motives 
of  curiosity,  or  even  to  share  in  the  rough  sport 
for  which  the  scoffers  always  found  opportunity. 
The  meeting  lasted  days,  and  even  weeks;  and 
preaching,  praying,  singing,  “ testifying,”  and 
“exhorting”  went  on  almost  without  intermission. 
“The  preachers  became  frantic  in  their  exhorta¬ 
tions;  men,  women,  and  children,  falling  as  if 
in  catalepsy,  were  laid  out  in  rows.  Shouts,  in¬ 
coherent  singing,  sometimes  barking  as  of  an  un¬ 
reasoning  beast,  rent  the  air.  Convulsive  leaps 
and  dancing  were  common;  so,  too,  ‘jerking,’ 
stakes  being  driven  into  the  ground  to  jerk  by, 
the  subjects  of  the  fit  grasping  them  as  they 
writhed  and  grimaced  in  their  contortions.  The 
world,  indeed,  seemed  demented.”1  Whole  com¬ 
munities  sometimes  professed  conversion;  and  it 
was  considered  a  particularly  good  day’s  work 

1  Hosmer,  Short  History  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,  p.  116. 


128 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


when  notorious  disbelievers  or  wrong-doers  — 
“hard  bats/’  in  the  phraseology  of  the  frontier  — 
or  gangs  of  young  rowdies  whose  only  object  in 
coming  was  to  commit  acts  of  deviltry,  succumbed 
to  the  peculiarly  compelling  influences  of  the  oc¬ 
casion. 

In  this  sort  of  religion  there  was,  of  course, 
much  wild  emotionalism  and  sheer  hysteria;  and 
there  were  always  people  to  whom  it  was  repellent. 
Backsliders  were  numerous,  and  the  person  who 
“fell  from  grace”  was  more  than  likely  to  revert 
to  his  earlier  wickedness  in  its  grossest  forms. 
None  the  less,  in  a  rough,  unlearned,  and  material¬ 
istic  society  such  spiritual  shakings-up  were  bound 
to  yield  much  permanent  good.  Most  western 
people,  at  one  time  or  another,  came  under  the 
influence  of  the  Methodist  and  Baptist  revivals; 
and  from  the  men  and  women  who  were  drawn  by 
them  to  a  new  and  larger  view  of  life  were  re¬ 
cruited  the  hundreds  of  little  congregations  whose 
meeting-houses  in  the  course  of  time  dotted  the 
hills  and  plains  from  the  Alleghanies  to  the  Missis¬ 
sippi.  As  for  the  hard-working,  honest-minded 
frontier  preachers  who  braved  every  sort  of  danger 
in  the  performance  of  their  great  task,  the  West 
owes  them  an  eternal  debt  of  gratitude.  In  the 


PIONEER  DAYS  AND  WAYS 


129 


words  of  Roosevelt,  “their  prejudices  and  narrow 
dislikes,  their  raw  vanity  and  sullen  distrust  of 
all  who  were  better  schooled  than  they,  count 
for  little  when  weighed  against  their  intense  ear¬ 
nestness  and  heroic  self-sacrifice.” 

Nor  was  education  neglected.  Many  of  the  set¬ 
tlers,  especially  those  who  came  from  the  South, 
were  illiterate.  But  all  who  made  any  pretense  of 
respectability  were  desirous  of  giving  their  children 
an  opportunity  to  learn  to  read  and  write.  Accord¬ 
ingly,  wherever  half  a  dozen  families  lived  reason¬ 
ably  close  together,  a  log  schoolhouse  was  sure  to  be 
found.  In  the  days  before  public  funds  existed  for 
the  support  of  education  the  teachers  were  paid 
directly,  and  usually  in  produce,  by  the  patrons. 
Sometimes  a  wandering  pedagogue  would  find  his 
way  into  a  community  and,  being  engaged  to  give 
instruction  for  two  or  three  months  during  the 
winter,  would  “board  around”  among  the  residents 
and  take  such  additional  pay  as  he  could  get.  More 
often,  some  one  of  the  settlers  who  was  fortunate 
enough  to  possess  the  rudiments  of  an  education 
undertook  the  role  of  schoolmaster  in  the  interval 
between  the  autumn  corn-gathering  and  the  spring 
ploughing  and  planting. 

Instruction  rarely  extended  beyond  the  three  R’s; 


130 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


but  occasionally  a  newcomer  who  had  somewhere 
picked  up  a  smattering  of  algebra,  Latin,  or  as¬ 
tronomy  stirred  the  wonder,  if  not  also  the  sus¬ 
picion,  of  the  neighborhood.  Schoolbooks  were 
few  and  costly;  crude  slates  were  made  from  pieces 
of  shale;  pencils  were  fashioned  from  varicolored 
soapstone  found  in  the  beds  of  small  streams.  No 
frontier  picture  is  more  familiar  or  more  pleasing 
than  that  of  the  farmer’s  boy  sitting  or  lying  on  the 
floor  during  the  long  winter  evening  industriously 
tracing  by  firelight  or  by  candlelight  the  proverb 
or  quotation  assigned  him  as  an  exercise  in  pen¬ 
manship,  or  wrestling  with  the  intricacies  of  least 
common  denominators  and  highest  common  divi¬ 
sors.  It  is  in  such  a  setting  that  we  get  our  first 
glimpse  of  the  greatest  of  western  Americans, 
Abraham  Lincoln. 


CHAPTER  VIII 


TECUMSEH 

Wayne’s  victory  in  1795,  followed  by  the  Treaty 
of  Fort  Greenville,  gave  the  Northwest  welcome 
relief  from  Indian  warfare,  and  within  four  years 
the  Territory  was  ready  to  be  advanced  to  the 
second  of  the  three  grades  of  government  provided 
for  it  in  the  Ordinance  of  1787.  A  Legislature  was 
set  up  at  Cincinnati,  and  in  due  time  it  proceeded 
to  the  election  of  a  delegate  to  Congress.  Choice 
fell  on  a  young  man  whose  name  was  destined  to  a 
permanent  place  in  the  country’s  history.  William 
Henry  Harrison  was  the  son  of  a  signer  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  the  scion  of  one  of 
Virginia’s  most  honored  families.  Entering  the 
army  in  1791,  he  had  served  as  an  aide-de-camp 
to  Wayne  in  the  campaign  which  ended  at  Fallen 
Timbers,  and  at  the  time  of  his  election  was  act¬ 
ing  as  Secretary  of  the  Territory  and  ex-officio 
Lieutenant-Governor. 

131 


132 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


Although  but  twenty-six  years  of  age,  and  with¬ 
out  a  vote  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  Harri¬ 
son  succeeded  in  procuring  from  Congress  in  1800 
an  act  dividing  the  Territory  into  two  distinct 
“governments,  ”  separated  by  the  old  Greenville 
treaty  line  as  far  as  Fort  Recovery  and  then  by  a 
line  running  due  north  to  the  Canadian  boundary. 
The  division  to  the  east  was  named  Ohio,  that  to 
the  west  Indiana ;  and  Harrison  was  made  Governor 
of  the  latter,  with  his  residence  at  Vincennes.  In 
1802  the  development  of  the  back  country  was 
freshly  emphasized  by  the  admission  of  Ohio  as  a 
State. 

Meanwhile  the  equilibrium  between  the  white 
man  and  the  red  again  became  unstable.  In  the 
Treaty  of  1795  the  natives  had  ceded  only  southern 
Ohio,  southeastern  Indiana,  and  a  few  other  small 
and  scattered  areas.  Northward  and  westward, 
their  country  stretched  to  the  Lakes  and  the  Mis¬ 
sissippi,  unbroken  except  by  military  posts  and 
widely  scattered  settlements;  and  title  to  all  of  this 
territory  had  been  solemnly  guaranteed.  As  late 
as  1800  the  white  population  of  what  is  now  In¬ 
diana  was  practically  confined  to  Clark’s  Grant, 
near  the  falls  of  the  Ohio,  and  a  small  region  around 
Vincennes.  It  numbered  not  more  than  twenty- 


TECUMSEH 


133 


five  hundred  persons.  But  thereafter  immigration 
from  the  seaboard  States,  and  from  the  nearer  lands 
of  Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  set  in  on  a  new  scale. 
By  1810  Indiana  had  a  white  population  of  twenty- 
five  thousand,  and  the  cabins  of  the  energetic 
settlers  dotted  river  valleys  and  hillsides  never 
before  trodden  by  white  man. 

In  this  new  rush  of  pioneers  the  rights  of  the 
Indians  received  scant  consideration.  Hardy  and 
well-armed  Virginians  and  Kentuckians  broke 
across  treaty  boundaries  and  possessed  themselves 
of  fertile  lands  to  which  they  had  no  valid  claim. 
White  hunters  trespassed  far  and  wide  on  Indian 
territory,  until  by  1810  great  regions,  which  a  quar¬ 
ter  of  a  century  earlier  abounded  in  deer,  bear, 
and  buffalo,  were  made  as  useless  for  Indian  pur¬ 
poses  as  barren  wastes.  Although  entitled  to  the 
protection  of  law  in  his  person  and  property,  the 
native  was  cheated  and  overawed  at  every  turn; 
he  might  even  be  murdered  with  impunity.  Abra¬ 
ham  Lincoln’s  uncle  thought  it  a  virtuous  act  to 
shoot  an  Indian  on  sight,  and  the  majority  of 
pioneers  agreed  with  him. 

“I  can  tell  at  once,”  wrote  Harrison  in  1801, 
“upon  looking  at  an  Indian  whom  I  may  chance  to 
meet  whether  he  belongs  to  a  neighboring  or  a  more 


134 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


distant  tribe.  The  latter  is  generally  well-clothed, 
healthy,  and  vigorous;  the  former  half -naked, 
filthy,  and  enfeebled  by  intoxication,  and  many  of 
them  without  arms  excepting  a  knife,  which  they 
carry  for  the  most  villainous  purposes.”  The 
stronger  tribes  perceived  quite  as  clearly  as  did 
the  Governor  the  ruinous  effects  of  contact  between 
the  two  peoples,  and  the  steady  destruction  of  the 
border  warriors  became  a  leading  cause  of  discon¬ 
tent.  Congress  had  passed  laws  intended  to  pre¬ 
vent  the  sale  of  spirituous  liquors  to  the  natives, 
but  the  courts  had  construed  these  measures  to  be 
operative  only  outside  the  bounds  of  States  and 
organized  Territories,  and  in  the  great  unorganized 
Northwest  the  laws  were  not  heeded,  and  the  ruin¬ 
ous  traffic  went  on  uninterrupted.  Harrison  re¬ 
ported  that  when  there  were  only  six  hundred  war¬ 
riors  on  the  Wabash  the  annual  consumption  of 
whiskey  there  was  six  thousand  gallons,  and  that 
killing  each  other  in  drunken  brawls  had  “become  so 
customary  that  it  was  no  longer  thought  criminal.” 

Most  exasperating,  however,  from  the  red  man’s 
point  of  view  was  the  insatiable  demand  of  the 
newcomers  for  land.  In  the  years  1803,  1804,  and 
1805  Harrison  made  treaties  with  the  remnants  of 
the  Miami,  Eel  River,  Piankeshaw,  and  Delaware 


TECUMSEH 


135 


tribes  —  characterized  by  him  as  “a  body  of  the 
most  depraved  wretches  on  earth  ”  —  which  gained 
for  the  settlers  a  strip  of  territory  fifty  miles  wide 
south  of  White  River;  and  in  1809  he  similarly  ac¬ 
quired,  by  the  Treaty  of  Fort  Wayne,  three  million 
acres,  in  tracts  which  cut  into  the  heart  of  the  In¬ 
dian  country  for  almost  a  hundred  miles  up  both 
banks  of  the  Wabash.  The  Wabash  valley  was 
richer  in  game  than  any  other  region  south  of  Lake 
Michigan,  and  its  loss  was  keenly  felt  by  the  In¬ 
dians.  Indeed,  it  was  mainly  the  cession  of  1809 
that  brought  once  more  to  a  crisis  the  long-brewing 
difficulties  with  the  Indians. 

About  the  year  1768  the  Creek  squaw  of  a 
Shawnee  warrior  gave  birth  at  one  time  to  three 
boys,  in  the  vicinity  of  the  present  city  of  Spring- 
field,  Ohio. 1  One  of  the  three  barely  left  his  name 
in  aboriginal  annals.  A  second,  known  as  Laule- 
wasikaw,  “the  man  with  the  loud  voice, ”  poses  in 
the  pages  of  history  as  “the  prophet.  ”  The  third 
brother  was  Tecumseh,  “the  wild-cat  that  leaps 
upon  its  prey, ”  or  “the  shooting  star,”  as  the 

1  Authorities  differ  as  to  the  facts  of  Tecumseh’s  birth.  His  earliest 
biographer,  Benjamin  Drake,  holds  that  he  was  “wholly  a  Shawanoe” 
and  that  he  was  a  fourth  child,  the  Prophet  and  another  son  being 
twins.  William  Henry  Harrison  spoke  of  Tecumseh’s  mother  as  a 
Creek. 


136  THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 

name  has  been  translated.  He  is  described  as  a 
tall,  handsome  warrior  —  daring  and  energetic,  of 
fluent  and  persuasive  speech,  given  to  deep  reflec¬ 
tion,  an  implacable  hater  of  the  white  man.  Other 
qualities  he  possessed  which  were  not  so  common 
among  his  people.  He  had  perfect  self-command, 
a  keen  insight  into  human  motives  and  purposes, 
and  an  exceptional  capacity  to  frame  plans  and 
organize  men  to  carry  them  out.  His  crowning 
scheme  for  bringing  together  the  tribes  of  the  Mid¬ 
dle  West  into  a  grand  democratic  confederacy  to 
regulate  land  cessions  and  other  dealings  with  the 
whites  stamps  him  as  perhaps  the  most  states¬ 
manlike  member  of  his  race. 

*  While  yet  hardly  more  than  a  boy,  Tecumseh 
seems  to  have  been  stirred  to  deep  indignation  by 
the  persistent  encroachment  of  the  whites  upon  the 

hunting-grounds  of  his  fathers.  The  cessions  of 

* 

1804  and  1805  he  specially  resented,  and  it  is  not 
unlikely  that  they  clinched  the  decision  of  the 
young  warrior  to  take  up  the  task  which  Pontiac 
had  left  unfinished.  At  all  events,  the  plan  was 
soon  well  in  hand.  A  less  far-seeing  leader  would 
have  been  content  to  call  the  scattered  tribes  to  a 
momentary  alliance  with  a  view  to  a  general  up¬ 
rising  against  the  invaders.  But  Tecumseh’s  pur- 


TECUMSEH 


137 


poses  ran  far  deeper.  All  of  the  Indian  peoples,  of 
whatever  name  or  relationships,  from  the  Lakes  to 
the  Gulf  and  from  the  Alleghanies  to  the  Rockies, 
were  to  be  organized  in  a  single,  permanent  con¬ 
federacy.  This  union,  furthermore,  was  to  con¬ 
sist,  not  of  chieftains,  but  of  the  warriors;  and  its 
governing  body  was  to  be  a  warriors’  congress,  an 
organ  of  genuine  popular  rule.  Joint  ownership 
of  all  Indian  lands  was  to  be  assumed  by  the  con¬ 
federacy,  and  the  piecemeal  cession  of  territory  by 
petty  tribal  chiefs,  under  pressure  of  government 
agents,  was  to  be  made  impossible.  Only  thus, 
Tecumseh  argued,  could  the  red  man  hope  to  hold 
his  own  in  the  uneven  contest  that  was  going 
on. 

The  plan  was  brilliant,  even  though  impractic¬ 
able.  Naturally,  it  did  not  appeal  instantly  to  the 
chieftains,  for  it  took  away  tribal  independence 
and  undermined  the  chieftain’s  authority.  Be¬ 
sides,  its  author  was  not  a  chief,  and  had  no  sanc¬ 
tion  of  birth  or  office.  Its  success  was  dependent  on 
the  building  of  an  intertribal  association  such  as 
Indian  history  had  never  known.  And  while  there 
was  nothing  in  it  which  contravened  the  professed 
policy  of  the  United  States,  it  ran  counter  to  the 
irrepressible  tendency  of  the  advancing  white 


138  THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 

population  to  spread  at  will  over  the  great  western 
domain. 

By  these  obstacles  Tecumseh  was  not  deterred. 
With  indefatigable  zeal  he  traveled  from  one  end 
of  the  country  to  the  other,  arguing  with  chiefs, 
making  fervid  speeches  to  assembled  warriors,  and 
in  every  possible  manner  impressing  his  people  with 
his  great  idea.  The  Prophet  went  with  him;  and 
when  the  orator’s  logic  failed  to  carry  conviction, 
the  medicine-man’s  imprecations  were  relied  upon 
to  save  the  day.  Events,  too,  played  into  their 
hands.  The  Leopard-Chesapealce  affair,1  in  1807, 
roused  strong  feeling  in  the  West  and  prompted 
the  Governor-General  of  Canada  to  begin  intrigues 
looking  to  an  alliance  with  the  redskins  in  the  event 
of  war.  And  when,  late  in  the  same  year,  Gover¬ 
nor  Hull  of  Michigan  Territory  indiscreetly  ne¬ 
gotiated  a  new  land  cession  at  Detroit,  the  northern 
tribes  at  once  joined  Tecumseh’s  league,  mutter¬ 
ing  threats  to  slay  the  chiefs  by  whom  the  cession 
had  been  sanctioned. 

In  the  spring  of  1808  Tecumseh  and  his  brother 
carried  their  plans  forward  another  step  by  tak¬ 
ing  up  their  residence  at  a  point  in  central  Indiana 

1  See  Jefferson  and  his  Colleagues,  by  Allen  Johnson  (in  The  Chron¬ 
icles  of  America). 


TECUMSEH 


139 


where  Tippecanoe  Creek  flows  into  the  Wabash  | 
River.  The  place  —  which  soon  got  the  name  J 
of  the  Prophet’s  Town  —  was  almost  equidistant*/ 
from  Vincennes,  Fort  Wayne,  and  Fort  Dearborn; 
from  it  the  warriors  could  paddle  their  canoes  to 
any  part  of  the  Ohio  or  the  Mississippi,  and  with 
only  a  short  portage,  to  the  waters  of  the  Maumee 
and  the  Great  Lakes.  The  situation  was,  therefore, 
strategic.  A  village  was  laid  out,  and  the  popu¬ 
lation  was  soon  numbered  by  the  hundred.  Live 
stock  was  acquired,  agriculture  was  begun,  the  use 
of  whiskey  was  prohibited,  and  every  indication 
was  afforded  of  peaceful  intent. 

Seasoned  frontiersmen,  however,  were  suspicious. 
Reports  came  in  that  the  Tippecanoe  villagers  en¬ 
gaged  daily  in  warlike  exercises;  rumor  had  it  that 
emissaries  of  the  Prophet  were  busily  stirring  the 
tribes,  far  and  near,  to  rebellion.  Governor  Harri¬ 
son  was  not  a  man  to  be  easily  frightened,  but  he 
became  apprehensive,  and  proposed  to  satisfy  him- 

t 

self  by  calling  Tecumseh  into  conference. 

The  interview  took  place  at  Vincennes,  and  was 
extended  over  a  period  of  two  weeks.  There  was 
a  show  of  firmness,  yet  of  good  will,  on  both  sides. 
The  Governor  counseled  peace,  orderliness,  and 
industry;  the  warrior  guest  professed  a  desire  to 


140 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


be  a  friend  to  the  United  States,  but  said  frankly 
that  if  the  country  continued  to  deal  with  the 
tribes  singly  in  the  purchase  of  land  he  would 
be  obliged  to  ally  himself  with  Great  Britain.  To 
Harrison’s  admonition  that  the  redskins  should 
leave  off  drinking  whiskey  —  “that  it  was  not 
made  for  them,  but  for  the  white  people,  who  alone 
knew  how  to  use  it  ”  —  the  visitor  replied  pointedly 
by  asking  that  the  sale  of  liquor  be  stopped. 

Notwithstanding  the  tenseness  of  the  situation, 
Harrison  negotiated  the  land  cessions  of  1809, 
which  cost  the  Indians  their  last  valuable  hunting- 
grounds  in  Indiana.  The  powerful  Wyandots 
promptly  joined  Tecumseh’s  league,  and  war  was 
made  inevitable.  Delay  followed  only  because  the 
Government  at  Washington  postponed  the  military 
occupation  of  the  new  purchase,  and  because  the 
British  authorities  in  Canada,  desiring  Tecumseh’s 
confederacy  to  attain  its  maximum  strength  before 
the  test  came,  urged  the  redskins  to  wait. 

For  two  more  years  —  while  Great  Britain  and 
the  United  States  hovered  on  the  brink  of  war 
—  preparations  continued.  Tribe  after  tribe  in 
Indiana  and  Illinois  elected  Tecumseh  as  their 
chief,  alliances  reached  to  regions  as  remote  as 
Florida.  In  1810  another  conference  took  place  at 


TECUMSEH 


141 


Vincennes;  and  this  time,  notwithstanding  Har¬ 
rison’s  request  that  not  more  than  thirty  redskins 
should  attend,  four  hundred  came  in  Tecumseh’s 
train,  fully  armed. 

A  large  portico  in  front  of  the  Governor’s  house 
[says  a  contemporary  account]  had  been  prepared  for 
the  purpose  with  seats,  as  well  for  the  Indians  as  for 
the  citizens  who  were  expected  to  attend.  When  Te- 
cumseh  came  from  his  camp,  with  about  forty  of  his 
warriors,  he  stood  off,  and  on  being  invited  by  the 
Governor,  through  an  interpreter,  to  take  his  seat,  re¬ 
fused,  observing  that  he  wished  the  council  to  be  held 
under  the  shade  of  some  trees  in  front  of  the  house. 
When  it  was  objected  that  it  would  be  troublesome  to 
remove  the  seats,  he  replied  that  “  it  would  only  be 
necessary  to  remove  those  intended  for  the  whites  — 
that  the  red  men  were  accustomed  to  sit  upon  the 
earth,  which  was  their  mother,  and  that  they  were 
always  happy  to  recline  upon  her  bosom.”1 

The  chieftain’s  equivocal  conduct  aroused  fresh 
suspicion,  but  he  was  allowed  to  proceed  with  the 
oration  which  he  had  come  to  deliver.  Freely 
rendered,  the  speech  ran,  in  part,  as  follows : 

I  have  made  myself  what  I  am;  and  I  would  that  I  could 
make  the  red  people  as  great  as  the  conceptions  of  my 
mind,  when  I  think  of  the  Great  Spirit  that  rules  over 
all.  I  would  not  then  come  to  Governor  Harrison  to  ask 
him  to  tear  the  treaty  [of  1809];  but  I  would  say  to  him, 

1  James  Hall,  Memoir  of  William  Henry  Harrisont  pp.  113-114. 


142 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


Brother,  you  have  liberty  to  return  to  your  own  country. 
Once  there  was  no  white  man  in  all  this  country:  then 
it  belonged  to  red  men,  children  of  the  same  parents, 
placed  on  it  by  the  Great  Spirit  to  keep  it,  to  travel  over 
it,  to  eat  its  fruits,  and  fill  it  with  the  same  race  —  once 
a  happy  race,  but  now  made  miserable  by  the  white 
people,  who  are  never  contented,  but  always  encroach¬ 
ing.  They  have  driven  us  from  the  great  salt  water, 
forced  us  over  the  mountains,  and  would  shortly  push  us 
into  the  lakes  —  but  we  are  determined  to  go  no  further. 
The  only  way  to  stop  this  evil  is  for  all  red  men  to  unite 
.  in  claiming  a  common  and  equal  right  in  the  land,  as  it 
was  at  first,  and  should  be  now  —  for  it  never  was 
divided,  but  belongs  to  all .  .  .  .  Any  sale  not  made 
by  all  is  not  good. 

In  his  reply  Harrison  declared  that  the  Indians 
were  not  one  nation,  since  the  Great  Spirit  had 
“put  six  different  tongues  in  their  heads,”  and 
argued  that  the  Indiana  lands  had  been  in  all  re¬ 
spects  properly  bought  from  their  rightful  owners. 
Tecumseh’s  blood  boiled  under  this  denial  of  his 
main  contention,  and  with  the  cry,  “It  is  false,” 
he  gave  a  signal  to  his  warriors,  who  sprang  to  their 
feet  and  seized  their  war-clubs.  For  a  moment  an 
armed  clash  was  imminent.  But  Harrison’s  cool 
manner  enabled  him  to  remaia  master  of  the  situ¬ 
ation,  and  a  well-directed  rebuke  sent  the  chieftain 
and  his  followers  to  their  quarters. 


TECUMSEH 


143 


On  the  following  morning  Tecumseh  apologized 
for  his  impetuosity  and  asked  that  the  conference 
be  renewed.  The  request  was  granted,  and  again 
the  forest  leader  pressed  for  an  abandonment  of  the 
policy  of  purchasing  land  from  the  separate  tribes. 
Harrison  told  him  that  the  question  was  for  the 
President,  rather  than  for  him,  to  decide.  “As 
the  great  chief  is  to  determine  the  matter,”  re¬ 
sponded  the  visitor  grimly,  “I  hope  the  Great 
Spirit  will  put  sense  enough  into  his  head  to  induce 
him  to  direct  you  to  give  up  this  land.  It  is  true 
he  is  so  far  off  he  will  not  be  injured  by  the  war. 
He  may  sit  still  in  his  town,  and  drink  his  wine, 
while  you  and  I  will  have  to  fight  it  out.  ” 

Still  the  clash  was  averted.  Once  more,  in  the 
summer  of  1811,  Tecumseh  appeared  at  Vincennes, 
and  again  the  deep  issue  between  the  two  peoples 
was  threshed  out  as  fruitlessly  as  before.  An¬ 
nouncing  his  purpose  to  visit  the  southern  tribes 
to  unite  them  with  those  of  the  North  in  a  peace¬ 
ful  confederacy,  the  chieftain  asked  that  dur¬ 
ing  his  absence  all  matters  be  left  as  they  were, 
and  promised  that  upon  his  return  he  would  go 
to  see  President  Madison  and  “settle  everything 
with  him.  ” 

Naturally,  no  pledge  of  the  kind  was  given,  and 


144 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


no  sooner  had  Tecumseh  and  twenty  of  his  warriors 
started  southward  on  their  mission  to  the  Creeks 
than  Harrison  began  preparations  to  end  the  men¬ 
ace  that  had  been  so  long  hanging  over  the  western 
country.  Troops  were  sent  to  Harrison;  and  vol¬ 
unteers  wrere  called  for.  As  fast  as  volunteers 
came  in  they  were  sent  up  to  the  Wabash  to  take 
possession  of  the  new  purchase.  Reinforcements 
arrived  from  Pittsburgh  and  from  Kentucky,  and 
in  a  short  while  the  Governor  was  able  to  bring 
together  at  Fort  Harrison,  near  the  site  of  the  pres¬ 
ent  city  of  Terre  Haute,  twenty-four  companies 
of  regulars,  militia,  and  Indians,  aggregating  about 
nine  hundred  well-armed  men. 

Late  in  October  this  army,  commanded  by  Har¬ 
rison  in  person,  set  forth  for  the  destruction  of  the 
Tippecanoe  rendezvous.  On  the  way  stray  red¬ 
skins  were  encountered,  but  the  advance  was  not 
resisted,  and  to  his  surprise  Harrison  was  enabled 
to  lead  his  forces  unmolested  to  within  a  few 
hundred  yards  of  the  Prophet’s  headquarters. 
Emissaries  now  came  saying  that  the  invasion  was 
wholly  unexpected,  professing  peaceful  intentions, 
and  asking  for  a  parley.  Harrison  had  no  idea 
that  anything  could  be  settled  by  negotiation,  but 
he  preferred  to  wait  until  the  next  day  to  make  an 


TECUMSEH 


145 


attack;  accordingly  he  agreed  to  a  council,  and  the 
army  went  into  camp  for  the  night  on  an  oak- 
covered  knoll  about  a  mile  northwest  of  the  village. 
No  entrenchments  were  thrown  up,  but  the  troops 
W’ere  arranged  in  a  triangle  to  conform  to  the  con¬ 
tour  of  the  hill,  and  a  hundred  sentinels  under 
experienced  officers  were  stationed  around  the 
camp-fires.  The  night  was  cold,  and  rain  fell  at 
intervals,  although  at  times  the  moon  shone 
brightly  through  the  flying  clouds. 

The  Governor  was  well  aware  of  the  proneness 
of  the  Indians  to  early  morning  attacks,  so  that 
about  four  o’clock  on  the  7th  of  November  he  rose 
to  call  the  men  to  parade.  He  had  barely  pulled 
on  his  boots  when  the  forest  stillness  was  broken 
by  the  crack  of  a  rifle  at  the  farthest  angle  of  the 
camp,  and  instantly  the  Indian  yell,  followed  by 
a  fusillade,  told  that  a  general  attack  had  begun. 
Before  the  militiamen  could  emerge  in  force  from 
their  tents,  the  sentinel  line  was  broken  and  the 
red  warriors  were  pouring  into  the  enclosure.  Des¬ 
perate  fighting  ensued,  and  when  time  for  reloading 
failed,  it  was  rifle  butt  and  bayonet  against  toma¬ 
hawk  and  scalping  knife  in  hand-to-hand  combat. 
For  two  hours  the  battle  raged  in  the  darkness,  and 
only  when  daylight  came  were  the  troops  able  to 


% 


10 


146 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


charge  the  redskins,  dislodge  them  from  behind  the 
trees,  and  drive  them  to  a  safe  distance  in  the 
neighboring  swamp.  Sixty-one  of  Harrison’s  offi¬ 
cers  and  men  were  killed  or  mortally  wounded; 
one  hundred  and  twenty-seven  others  suffered 
serious  injury.  The  Governor  himself  probably 
owed  his  life  to  the  circumstance  that  in  the  con¬ 
fusion  he  mounted  a  bay  horse  instead  of  his  own 
white  stallion,  whose  rider  was  shot  early  in  the 
contest. 

The  Indian  losses  were  small,  and  for  twenty- 
four  hours  Harrison’s  forces  kept  their  places, 
hourly  expecting  another  assault.  “Night,”  wrote 
one  of  the  men  subsequently,  “found  every  man 
mounting  guard,  without  food,  fire,  or  light  and 
in  a  drizzling  rain.  The  Indian  dogs,  during  the 
dark  hours,  produced  frequent  alarms  by  prowling 
in  search  of  carrion  about  the  sentinels.  ”  There  be¬ 
ing  no  further  sign  of  hostilities,  early  on  the  8th  of 
November  a  body  of  mounted  riflemen  set  out  for 
the  Prophet’s  village,  which  they  found  deserted. 
The  place  had  evidently  been  abandoned  in  haste, 
for  nothing  —  not  even  a  fresh  stock  of  English 
guns  and  powder  —  had  been  destroyed  or  carried 
off.  After  confiscating  much-needed  provisions 
and  other  valuables,  Harrison  ordered  the  village 


TECUMSEH 


147 


to  be  burned.  Then,  abandoning  camp  furniture 
and  private  baggage  to  make  room  in  the  wagons 
for  the  wounded,  he  set  out  on  the  return  trip  to 
Vincennes.  A  company  was  left  at  Fort  Harrison, 
and  the  main  force  reached  the  capital  on  the  18th 
of  November. 

Throughout  the  western  country  the  news  of 
the  battle  was  received  with  delight,  and  it  was 
fondly  believed  that  the  backbone  of  Tecumseh’s 
conspiracy  was  broken.  It  was  even  supposed  that 
the  indomitable  chieftain  and  his  brother  would 
be  forthwith  surrendered  by  the  Indians  to  the 
authorities  of  the  United  States.  Harrison  was 
acclaimed  as  a  deliverer.  The  legislatures  of  Ken¬ 
tucky,  Indiana,  and  Illinois  formally  thanked  him 
for  his  services;  and  if,  as  his  Federalist  enemies 
charged,  he  had  planned  the  whole  undertaking 
with  a  view  to  promoting  his  personal  fortunes,  he 
ought  to  have  been  satisfied  with  the  result.  It 
was  the  glamour  of  Tippecanoe  that  three  decades 
afterwards  carried  him  into  the  President’s  chair. 

In  precipitating  a  clash  while  Tecumseh,  the 
master-mind  of  the  fast-growing  confederacy,  was 
absent,  the  Prophet  committed  a  capital  blunder. 
When  reproached  by  his  warriors,  he  declared  that 
all  would  have  gone  well  but  for  the  fact  that  on  the 


148 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


night  before  the  battle  his  squaw  had  profanely 
touched  the  pot  in  which  his  magic  charms  were 
brewed,  so  that  the  spell  had  been  broken!  The 
explanation  was  not  very  convincing,  and  ominous 
murmurings  wTere  heard.  Before  the  end  of  the 
year,  however,  word  came  to  Vincennes  that  the 
crafty  magician  was  back  at  Tippecanoe,  that 
the  village  had  been  rebuilt,  and  that  the  lives  of 
the  white  settlers  who  were  pouring  into  the  new 
purchase  were  again  endangered. 

Still  more  alarming  was  the  news  of  Tecumseh’s 
return  in  January,  1812,  from  a  very  successful 
visit  to  the  Creeks,  Choctaws,  and  Cherokees.  He 
began  by  asking  leave  to  make  his  long-projected 
visit  to  Washington  to  obtain  peace  from  the  Presi- 

i 

dent,  and  he  professed  deep  regret  for  “the  unfor¬ 
tunate  transaction  that  took  place  between  the 
white  people  and  a  few  of  our  young  men  at  our  vil¬ 
lage.  ”  To  the  British  agent  at  Amherstburg  he 
declared  that  had  he  been  on  the  spot  there  would 
have  been  no  fighting  at  Tippecanoe.  It  is  reason¬ 
able  to  suppose  that  in  this  case  there  would  have 
» 

been,  at  all  events,  no  Indian  attack;  for  Tecumseh 
was  thoroughly  in  sympathy  with  the  British  plan, 
which  was  to  unite  and  arm  the  natives,  but  to 
prevent  a  premature  outbreak.  The  chieftain's 


TECUMSEH 


149 


presence,  however,  would  hardly  have  deterred 
Harrison  from  carrying  out  his  decision  to  break  up 
the  Tippecanoe  stronghold. 

The  spring  of  1812  brought  an  ominous  renewal 
of  depredations.  Two  settlers  were  murdered 
within  three  miles  of  Fort  Dearborn;  an  entire  fam¬ 
ily  was  massacred  but  five  miles  from  Vincennes; 
from  all  directions  came  reports  of  other  bloody 
deeds.  The  frontier  was  thrown  into  panic.  A 
general  uprising  was  felt  to  be  impending;  even 
Vincennes  was  thought  to  be  in  danger.  “Most  of 
the  citizens  of  this  country,”  reported  Harrison, 
on  the  6th  of  May,  “have  abandoned  their  farms, 
and  taken  refuge  in  such  temporary  forts  as  they 
have  been  able  to  construct.  ”  Scores  fled  to  Ken¬ 
tucky  and  to  even  more  distant  regions. 

Tecumseh  continued  to  assert  his  friendship  for 
his  “white  brothers”  and  to  treat  the  battle  at 
Tippecanoe  as  a  matter  of  no  moment.  The  mur¬ 
ders  on  the  frontier  he  declared  to  be  the  work  of  the 
Potawatomi,  who  were  not  under  his  control,  and 
for  whose  conduct  he  had  no  excuse.  But  it  was 
noted  that  he  made  no  move  to  follow  up  his  pro¬ 
fessed  purpose  to  visit  Washington  in  quest  of 
peace,  and  that  he  put  forth  no  effort  to  restrain  his 
over-zealous  allies.  It  was  plain  enough  that  he 


150 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


was  simply  awaiting  a  signal  from  Canada,  and 
that,  as  the  commandant  at  Fort  Wayne  tersely 
reported,  if  the  country  should  have  a  war  with 
Great  Britain,  it  must  be  prepared  for  an  Indian 
war  as  well. 


CHAPTER  IX 


THE  WAR  OF  1812  AND  THE  NEW  WEST 

The  spring  of  1812  thus  found  the  back  country 
in  a  turmoil,  and  it  was  with  a  real  sense  of  relief 
that  the  settlers  became  aware  of  the  American  de¬ 
claration  of  war  against  Great  Britain  on  the  18th 
of  June.  More  than  once  Governor  Harrison  had 
asked  for  authority  to  raise  an  army  with  which 
to  “scour”  the  Wabash  territory.  In  the  fear 
that  such  a  step  would  drive  the  redskins  into  the 
arms  of  the  British,  the  War  Department  had  with¬ 
held  its  consent.  Now  that  the  ban  was  lifted,  the 
people  could  expect  the  necessary  measures  to  be 
taken  for  their  defense.  In  no  part  of  the  country 
was  the  war  more  popular;  nowhere  did  the  mass 
of  the  able-bodied  population  show  greater  eager¬ 
ness  to  take  the  field. 

According  to  official  returns,  the  Westerners 
were  totally  unprepared  for  the  contest.  There 

were  but  five  garrisoned  posts  between  the  Ohio 

151 


152  THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 

and  the  Canadian  frontier.  Fort  Harrison  had 
fifty  men,  Fort  Wayne  eighty-five,  Fort  Dearborn 
fifty-three,Fort  Mackinac  eighty-eight,  and  Detroit 
one  hundred  and  twenty  —  a  total  force  of  fewer 
than  four  hundred.  The  entire  standing  army 
of  the  United  States  numbered  but  sixty-seven 
hundred  men,  and  it  was  obvious  that  the  trans- 
Alleghany  population  would  be  obliged  to  carry 
almost  alone  the  burden  of  their  own  defense. 
The  task  would  not  be  easy;  for  General  Brock, 
commanding  in  upper  Canada,  had  at  least  two 
thousand  regulars  and,  as  soon  as  hostilities  be¬ 
gan,  was  joined  by  Tecumseh  and  many  hundred 
redskins. 

While  the  question  of  the  war  was  still  under  de¬ 
bate  in  Congress,  President  Madison  made  a  re¬ 
quisition  on  Ohio  for  twelve  hundred  militia,  and 
in  early  summer  the  Governors  of  Indiana  and 
Illinois  called  hundreds  of  volunteers  into  service. 
Leaving  their  families  as  far  as  possible  under  the 
protection  of  stockades  or  of  the  towns,  the  pa¬ 
triots  flocked  to  the  mustering-grounds ;  many,  like 
Cincinnatus  of  old,  deserted  the  plough  in  mid- 
field.  Guns  and  ammunition  in  sufficient  quan¬ 
tity  were  lacking;  even  tents  and  blankets  were 
often  wanting.  But  enthusiasm  ran  high,  and  only 


THE  WAR  OF  1812 


153 


capable  leadership  was  needed  to  make  of  these 
frontier  forces,  once  they  were  properly  equipped, 
a  formidable  foe. 

The  story  of  the  leaders  and  battles  of  the  war  in 
the  West  has  been  told  in  an  earlier  volume  of  this 
series.1  It  will  be  necessary  here  merely  to  call  to 
mind  the  stages  through  which  this  contest  passed, 
as  a  preliminary  to  a  glimpse  of  the  conditions 
under  which  Westerners  fought  and  of  the  new 
position  into  which  their  section  of  the  country 
was  brought  when  peace  was  restored.  So  far 
as  the  regions  north  of  the  Ohio  were  concerned, 
the  war  developed  two  phases.  The  first  began 
with  General  William  Hull’s  expedition  from  Ohio 
against  Fort  Malden  for  the  relief  of  Detroit,  and 
it  ended  with  the  humiliating  surrender  of  that 
important  post,  together  with  the  forced  abandon¬ 
ment  of  Forts  Dearborn  and  Mackinac,  so  that  the 
Wabash  and  Maumee  became,  for  all  practical 
purposes,  the  country’s  northern  boundary.  This 
was  a  story  of  complete  and  bitter  defeat.  The 
second  phase  began  likewise  with  a  disaster  —  the 
needless  loss  of  a  thousand  men  on  the  Raisin  River, 
near  Detroit.  Yet  it  succeeded  in  bringing  Wil- 

*  See  The  Fight  for  a  Free  Sea,  by  Ralph  D.  Paine  (in  The  Chronicles 
qf  America). 


154 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


liam  Henry  Harrison  into  chief  command,  and  it 
ended  in  Commodore  Perry’s  signal  victory  on  Lake 
Erie  and  Harrison’s  equally  important  defeat  of 
the  disheartened  British  land  forces  on  the  banks 
of  the  Thames  River,  north  of  the  Lake.  At  this 
Battle  of  the  Thames  perished  Tecumseh,  who  in 
point  of  fact  was  the  real  force  behind  the  British 
campaigns  in  the  West.  Tradition  describes  him 
on  the  eve  of  the  battle  telling  his  comrades  that 
his  last  day  had  come,  solemnly  stripping  off  his 
British  uniform  before  going  into  battle,  and  ar¬ 
raying  himself  in  the  fighting  costume  of  his  own 
people. 

For  two-thirds  of  the  time,  the  war  went  badly 
for  the  Westerners,  and  only  at  the  end  did  it  turn 
out  to  be  a  brilliant  success.  The  reasons  for  the 
dreary  succession  of  disasters  are  not  difficult  to 
discover.  Foremost  among  them  is  the  charac¬ 
ter  of  the  troops  and  officers.  The  material  from 
which  the  regiments  were  recruited  was  intrinsi¬ 
cally  good,  but  utterly  raw  and  untrained.  The 
men  could  shoot  well;  they  had  great  powers  of 
endurance;  and  they  were  brave.  But  there  the 
list  of  their  military  virtues  ends. 

The  scheme  of  military  organization  relied  upon 
throughout  the  West  was  that  of  the  volunteer 


THE  WAR  OF  1812 


155 


militia.  In  periods  of  ordinary  Indian  warfare 
the  system  served  its  purpose  fairly  well.  Under 
stern  necessity,  the  self-willed,  independence-loving 
backwoodsmen  could  be  brought  to  act  together 
for  a  few  weeks  or  months;  but  they  had  little  sys¬ 
tematic  training,  and  their  impatience  of  restraint 
prevented  the  building  up  of  any  real  discipline. 
There  were  periodic  musters  for  company  or  regi¬ 
mental  drill.  But,  as  a  rule,  drill  duty  was  not 
taken  seriously.  Numbers  of  men  failed  to  re¬ 
port;  and  those  who  came  were  likely  to  give  most 
of  their  time  to  horse-races,  wrestling-matches, 
shooting  contests  —  not  to  mention  drinking  and 
brawling  —  which  turned  the  occasion  into  mere 
merrymaking  or  disorder.  The  men  brought  few 
guns,  and  when  drills  were  actually  held  these 
soldiers  in  the  making  contented  themselves  with 
parading  with  cornstalks  over  their  shoulders. 
“  Cornstalk  drill  ”  thus  became  a  frontier  epithet  of 
derision.  It  goes  without  saying  that  these  troops 
were  poorly  officered.  The  captains  and  colonels 
were  chosen  by  the  men,  frequently  with  more  re¬ 
gard  for  their  political  affiliations  or  their  general 
standing  in  the  community  than  for  their  capacity 
as  military  commanders;  nor  were  the  higher  offi¬ 
cers,  appointed  by  the  chief  executive  of  territory. 


156 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


state,  or  nation,  more  likely  to  be  chosen  with  a 
view  to  their  military  fitness. 

So  it  came  about,  as  Roosevelt  has  said,  that  the 
frontier  people  of  the  second  generation  “had  no 
military  training  whatever,  and  though  they  pos¬ 
sessed  a  skeleton  militia  organization,  they  derived 
no  benefit  from  it,  because  their  officers  were 
worthless,  and  the  men  had  no  idea  of  practising 
self-restraint  or  obeying  orders  longer  than  they 
saw  fit.”1  When  the  War  of  1812  began,  these 
backwoods  troops  were  pitted  against  British  regu¬ 
lars  who  were  powerfully  supported  by  Indian  allies. 
The  officers  of  these  untrained  American  troops 
were,  like  Hull,  pompous,  broken-down,  political 
incapables;  while  to  the  men  themselves  may  fairly 
be  applied  Amos  Kendall’s  disgusted  characteriza¬ 
tion  of  a  Kentucky  muster:  “The  soldiers  are  under 
no  more  restraint  than  a  herd  of  swine.  Reasoning, 
remonstrating,  threatening,  and  ridiculing  their 
officers,  they  show  their  sense  of  equality  and  their 
total  want  of  subordination.  ”  Not  until  the  very 
last  of  the  war,  when  under  Harrison’s  direction 
capable  and  experienced  officers  drilled  them  into 
real  soldiers,  did  these  backwoods  stalwarts  become 
an  effective  fighting  force. 

1  Winning  of  the  West,  vol.  ivf  p.  246. 


THE  WAR  OF  1812 


157 


There  were  also  shortcomings  of  another  sort. 
None  was  more  exasperating  or  costly  than  the 
lack  of  means  of  transportation.  Even  in  Ohio, 
the  oldest  and  most  settled  portion  of  the  North¬ 
west,  roads  were  few  and  poor;  elsewhere  there 
were  practically  none  of  any  kind.  But  the  re¬ 
gions  in  which  the  war  was  carried  on  were  far  too 
sparsely  populated  to  be  able  to  furnish  the  sup¬ 
plies,  even  the  foodstuffs,  needed  by  the  troops; 
and  materials  of  every  sort  had  to  be  transported 
from  the  East,  by  river,  lake,  and  wilderness  trail. 
Up  and  down  the  great  unbroken  stretches  between 
the  Ohio  and  the  Lakes  moved  the  floundering 
supply  trains  in  the  vain  effort  to  keep  up  with  the 
armies,  or  to  reach  camps  or  forts  in  time  to  avert 
starvation  or  disaster.  Pack-horses  waded  knee- 
deep  in  mud;  wagons  were  dragged  through  mire 
up  to  their  hubs;  even  empty  vehicles  sometimes 
became  so  embedded  that  they  had  to  be  aban¬ 
doned,  the  drivers  being  glad  to  get  off  with  their 
horses  alive.  Many  times  a  quartermaster,  taking 
advantage  of  a  frost,  would  send  off  a  convoy  of 
provisions,  only  to  hear  of  its  being  swamped  by  a 
thaw  before  reaching  its  destination.  One  of  the 
tragedies  of  the  war  was  the  suffering  of  the  troops 
while  waiting  for  supplies  of  clothing,  tents,  medi- 


158 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


cines,  and  food  which  were  stuck  in  swamps  or 
frozen  up  in  rivers  or  lakes. 

Beset  with  pleurisy,  pneumonia,  and  rheumatism 
in  winter,  with  fevers  in  summer,  and  subject  to 
attack  by  the  Indians  at  all  times,  these  frontier 
soldiers  led  an  existence  of  exceptional  hardship. 
Only  the  knowledge  that  they  were  fighting  for 
their  freedom  and  their  homes  held  them  to  their 
task.  An  interesting  sidelight  on  the  conditions 
under  which  their  work  was  done  is  contained  in 
the  following  extract  from  a  letter  written  by  a 
volunteer  in  1814: 

On  the  second  day  of  our  inarch  a  courier  arrived  from 
General  Harrison,  ordering  the  artillery  to  advance  with 
all  possible  speed.  This  was  rendered  totally  impos¬ 
sible  by  the  snow  which  took  place,  it  being  a  complete 
swamp  nearly  all  day.  On  the  evening  of  the  same  day 
news  arrived  that  General  Harrison  had  retreated  to 
Portage  River,  eighteen  miles  in  the  rear  of  the  encamp¬ 
ment  at  the  rapids.  As  many  men  as  could  be  spared 
determined  to  proceed  immediately  to  re-enforce  him. 
...  At  two  o’clock  the  next  morning  our  tents  were 
struck,  and  in  half  an  hour  we  were  on  the  road.  I  will 
candidly  confess  that  on  that  day  I  regretted  being  a 
soldier.  On  that  day  we  marched  thirty  miles  under 
an  incessant  rain;  and  I  am  afraid  you  will  doubt  my 
veracity  when  I  tell  you  that  in  eight  miles  of  the  best 
of  the  road,  it  took  us  over  the  knees,  and  often  to  the 
middle.  The  Black  Swamp  would  have  been  considered 


THE  WAR  OF  1812 


159 


impassable  by  all  but  men  determined  to  surmount 
every  difficulty  to  accomplish  the  object  of  their  march. 
In  this  swamp  you  lose  sight  of  terra  firma  altogether  — 
the  water  was  about  six  inches  deep  on  the  ice,  which 
was  very  rotten,  often  breaking  through  to  the  depth  of 
four  or  five  feet.  The  same  night  we  encamped  on  very 
wet  ground,  but  the  driest  that  could  be  found,  the  rain 
still  continuing.  It  was  with  difficulty  we  could  raise 
fires;  we  had  no  tents;  our  clothes  were  wet,  no  axes, 
nothing  to  cook  with,  and  very  little  to  eat.  A  brigade 
of  pack-horses  being  near  us,  we  procured  from  them 
some  flour,  killed  a  hog  (there  were  plenty  of  them  along 
the  road);  our  bread  was  baked  in  the  ashes,  and  our 
pork  we  broiled  on  the  coals  —  a  sweeter  meal  I  never 
partook  of.  When  we  went  to  sleep  it  was  on  two  logs 
laid  close  to  each  other,  to  keep  our  bodies  from  the 
damp  ground.  Good  God!  What  a  pliant  being  is 
man  in  adversity. 1 

The  principal  theater  of  war  was  the  Great 
Lakes  and  the  lands  adjacent  to  them.  Prior  to  the 
campaign  which  culminated  in  Jackson’s  victory 
at  New  Orleans  after  peace  had  been  signed,  the 
Mississippi  Valley  had  been  untrodden  by  British 
soldiery.  The  contest,  none  the  less,  came  close 
home  to  the  backwoods  populations.  Scores  of 
able-bodied  men  from  every  important  community 
saw  months  or  years  of  toilsome  service;  many 
failed  to  return  to  their  homes,  or  else  returned 

1  Dawson,  William  H.  Harrison ,  p.  369. 


160 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


crippled,  weakened,  or  stricken  with  fatal  diseases; 
crops  were  neglected,  or  had  only  such  care  as  could 
be  given  them  by  old  men  and  boys;  trade  lan¬ 
guished;  Indian  depredations  wrought  further  ruin 
to  life  and  property  and  kept  the  people  continually 
in  alarm.  Until  1814,  reports  of  successive  de¬ 
feats,  in  both  the  East  and  West,  had  a  depress¬ 
ing  influence  and  led  to  solemn  speculation  as  to 
whether  the  back  country  stood  in  danger  of  fall¬ 
ing  again  under  British  dominion. 

It  was,  therefore,  with  a  very  great  sense  of  re¬ 
lief  that  the  West  heard  in  1815  that  peace  had 
been  concluded.  At  a  stroke  both  the  British 
menace  and  the  danger  from  the  Indians  were 
removed;  for  although  the  redskins  were  still 
numerous  and  discontented,  their  spirit  of  resist¬ 
ance  was  broken.  Never  again  was  there  a  general 
uprising  against  the  whites;  never  again  did  the 
Northwest  witness  even  a  local  Indian  war  of  any 
degree  of  seriousness  save  Black  Hawk’s  Rebellion 
in  1832.  Tecumseh  manifestly  realized  before  he 
made  his  last  stand  at  the  Thames  that  the  cause 
of  his  people  was  forever  lost. 

For  several  years  the  unsettled  conditions  on  the 
frontiers  had  restrained  any  general  migration 
thither  from  the  seaboard  States.  But  within  a 


THE  WAR  OF  1812 


161 


few  months  after  the  proclamation  of  peace  the 
tide  again  set  westward,  and  with  an  unprecedented 
force.  Men  who  had  suffered  in  their  property  or 
other  interests  from  the  war  turned  to  Indiana  and 
Illinois  as  a  promising  field  in  which  to  rebuild 
their  fortunes.  The  rapid  extinction  of  Indian 
titles  opened  up  vast  tracts  of  desirable  land,  and 
the  conditions  of  purchase  were  made  so  easy  that 
any  man  of  ordinary  industry  and  integrity  could 
meet  them.  Speculators  and  promoters  indus¬ 
triously  advertised  the  advantages  of  localities  in 
which  they  were  interested,  boomed  new  towns, 
and  even  loaned  money  to  ambitious  emigrants. 

The  upshot  was  that  the  population  of  Indiana  ' 
grew  from  twenty-five  thousand  in  1810  to  seventy 
thousand  in  1816,  when  the  State  was  admitted 
to  the  Union.  Illinois  filled  with  equal  rapidity, 
and  attained  statehood  only  two  years  later.  Then 
the  tide  swept  irresistibly  westward  across  the 
Mississippi  into  the  great  regions  which  had  been 
acquired  from  France  in  1803.  As  late  as  1812 
the  Territory  of  Missouri,  comprising  all  of  the 
Louisiana  Purchase  north  of  the  present  State  of 
Louisiana,  had  a  population  of  only  twenty-two 
thousand,  including  many  French  and  Spanish 
settlers  and  traders.  But  in  1818  it  had  a  popu- 


162 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


lation  of  more  than  sixty  thousand,  and  was  ask¬ 
ing  Congress  for  legislation  under  which  the  most 
densely  inhabited  portion  should  be  set  off  as  the 
State  of  Missouri.  Thus  the  Old  Northwest  was 
not  merely  losing  its  frontier  character  and  taking 
its  place  in  the  nation  on  a  footing  with  the  sea¬ 
board  sections;  it  was  also  serving  as  the  open  gate¬ 
way  to  a  newer,  vaster,  and  in  some  respects  richer 
American  back  country. 

In  the  main,  southern  Indiana  and  Illinois  —  as 
well  as  the  trans-Mississippi  territory  —  drew  from 
Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Virginia,  and  the  remoter 
South.  North  of  the  latitude  of  Indianapolis  and 
St.  Louis  the  lines  of  migration  led  chiefly  from 
New  England,  New  York,  and  Pennsylvania.  But 
many  of  the  settlers  came,  immediately  or  after 
only  a  brief  interval,  from  Europe.  The  decade 
following  the  close  of  the  war  was  a  time  of  unprece¬ 
dented  emigration  from  England,  Scotland,  Ire¬ 
land,  and  Germany  to  the  United  States;  and  while 
many  of  the  newcomers  found  homes  in  the  eastern 
States,  where  they  in  a  measure  offset  the  depopula¬ 
tion  caused  by  the  westward  exodus,  a  very  large 
proportion  pressed  on  across  the  mountains  in  quest 
of  the  cheap  lands  in  the  undeveloped  interior. 
During  these  years  the  western  country  was  re- 


THE  WAR  OF  1812 


163 


peatedly  visited  by  European  travelers  with  a  view 
to  ascertaining  its  resources,  markets,  and  other 
attractions  for  settlers;  and  emigration  thither 
was  powerfully  stimulated  by  the  writings  of  these 
observers,  as  well  as  by  the  activities  of  sundry 
founders  of  agricultural  colonies. 

“These  favorable  accounts,”  wrote  Adlard  Wel- 
by,  an  Englishman  who  made  a  tour  of  inspection 
through  the  West  in  1819,  “aided  by  a  period  of 
real  privation  and  discontent  in  Europe,  caused 
emigration  to  increase  ten -fold;  and  though  various 
reports  of  unfavorable  nature  soon  circulated,  and 
many  who  had  emigrated  actually  returned  to 
their  native  land  in  disgust,  yet  still  the  trading 
vessels  were  filled  with  passengers  of  all  ages  and 
descriptions,  full  of  hope,  looking  forward  to  the 
West  as  to  a  land  of  liberty  and  delight  —  a  land 
flowing  with  milk  and  honey  —  a  second  land  of 
Canaan.”1 

After  the  dangers  from  the  Indians  w^ere  over¬ 
come,  the  main  obstacle  to  western  development 
was  the  lack  of  means  of  easy  and  cheap  transpor¬ 
tation.  The  settler  found  it  difficult  to  reach  the 
region  which  he  had  selected  for  his  home.  East¬ 
ern  supplies  of  salt,  iron,  hardware,  and  fabrics  and 

1  Thwaites,  Early  Western  Travels,  vol.  xii,  p.  148. 


164 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


foodstuffs  could  be  obtained  only  at  great  expense. 
The  fast-increasing  products  of  the  western  farms 

—  maize,  wheat,  meats,  livestock  —  could  be  mar¬ 
keted  only  at  a  cost  which  left  a  slender  margin 
of  profit.  The  experiences  of  the  late  war  had  al¬ 
ready  proved  the  need  of  highways  as  auxiliaries 
of  national  defense.  It  required  a  month  to  carry 
goods  from  Baltimore  to  central  Ohio.  None  the 
less,  even  before  the  War  of  1812,  hundreds  of 
transportation  companies  were  running  four-horse 
freight  wagons  between  the  eastern  and  western 
States;  and  in  1820  more  than  three  thousand 
wagons  —  practically  all  carrying  western  products 

—  passed  back  and  forth  between  Philadelphia 
and  Pittsburgh,  transporting  merchandise  valued 
at  eighteen  million  dollars. 

Small  wonder  that  western  producer  and  eastern 
dealer  alike  became  interested  in  internal  improve¬ 
ments;  or  that  under  the  double  stimulus  of  private 
and  public  enterprise  Indian  trails  fast  gave  way 
to  rough  pioneer  roadways,  and  they  to  carefully 
planned  and  durable  turnpikes.  Long  before  the 
War  of  1812,  Jefferson,  Gallatin,  Clay,  and  other 
statesmen  had  conceived  of  a  great  highway,  or 
series  of  highways,  connecting  the  seaboard  with 
the  interior  as  the  surest  and  best  means  of  pro- 


THE  WAR  OF  1812 


165 


moting  national  unity  and  strength;  and,  in  the  act 
of  Congress  of  1802  admitting  the  State  of  Ohio, 
a  promising  beginning  had  been  made  by  setting 
aside  five  per  cent  of  the  money  received  from 
the  sale  of  public  lands  in  the  State  for  the  build¬ 
ing  of  roads  extending  eastward  to  the  navigable 
waters  of  Atlantic  streams.  In  1808  Secretary 
Gallatin  had  presented  to  Congress  a  report  calling 
for  an  outlay  on  internal  improvements  of  two 
million  dollars  of  federal  money  a  year  for  ten 
years;  and  in  1811  the  Government  had  entered 
upon  the  greatest  undertaking  of  its  kind  in  the 
history  of  the  country. 

This  enterprise  was  the  building  of  the  magnifi¬ 
cent  highway  known  to  the  law  as  the  Cumberland 
Road,  but  familiar  to  uncounted  emigrants,  travel¬ 
ers,  and  traders  —  and  deeply  embedded  in  the 
traditions  of  the  Middle  States  and  the  West  — 
as  the  National  Road.  Starting  at  Cumberland, 
Maryland,  this  great  artery  of  commerce  and 
travel  was  pushed  slowly  through  the  Alleghanies, 
even  in  the  dark  days  of  the  war,  and  by  1818  it 
was  open  for  traffic  as  far  west  as  Wheeling.  The 
method  of  construction  was  that  which  had  lately 
been  devised  by  John  McAdam  in  England,  and 
involved  spreading  crushed  limestone  over  a  care- 


166 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


fully  prepared  road-bed  in  three  layers,  traffic 
being  permitted  for  a  time  over  each  layer  in  suc¬ 
cession.  This  “  macadamized  ”  surface  was  curved 
to  permit  drainage,  and  extra  precautions  were 
taken  in  localities  where  spring  freshets  were  likely 
to  cause  damage. 

Controversy  raged  over  proposals  to  extend  the 
road  to  the  farthest  West,  to  provide  its  upkeep  by 
a  system  of  tolls,  and  to  build  similar  highways 
farther  north  and  south.  But  for  a  time  constitu¬ 
tional  and  legal  difficulties  were  swept  aside  and 
construction  continued.  Columbus  was  reached  in 
1833,  Indianapolis  about  1840;  and  the  roadway 
was  graded  to  Vandalia,  then  the  capital  of  Illinois, 
and  marked  out  to  Jefferson  City,  Missouri,  al¬ 
though  it  was  never  completed  to  the  last-men¬ 
tioned  point  by  federal  authority.  When  one  reads 
that  the  original  cost  of  construction  mounted  to 
$10,000  a  mile  in  central  Pennsylvania,  and  even 
$13,000  a  mile  in  the  neighborhood  of  Wheeling, 
one’s  suspicion  is  aroused  that  public  contracts 
were  not  less  dubious  a  hundred  years  ago  than 
they  have  been  known  to  be  in  our  own  time. 

The  National  Road  has  long  since  lost  its  im¬ 
portance  as  the  great  connecting  link  of  East  and 
West.  But  in  its  day,  especially  before  1860,  it 


THE  WAR  OF  1812 


167 


was  a  teeming  thoroughfare.  Its  course  was  lined 
with  hospitable  farmhouses  and  was  dotted  with 
fast-growing  villages  and  towns.  Some  of  the  latter 
which  once  were  nationally  famed  were  left  high 
and  dry  by  later  shifts  of  the  lines  of  traffic,  and 
have  quite  disappeared  from  the  map.  Through¬ 
out  the  spring  and  summer  months  there  was  a 
steady  westward  stream  of  emigrants;  hardly  a 
day  failed  to  bring  before  the  observer’s  eye  the 
creaking  canvas-covered  wagon  of  the  homeseeker. 
Singly  and  in  companies  they  went,  ever  toward 
the  promised  land.  Wagon-trains  of  merchandise 
from  the  eastern  markets  toiled  patiently  along  the 
way.  Speculators,  peddlers,  and  sightseers  added 
to  the  procession,  and  in  hundreds  of  farmhouses 
the  women-folk  and  children  gathered  in  interested 
groups  by  the  evening  fire  to  hear  the  chance  visi¬ 
tor  talk  politics  or  war  and  retail  with  equal  facility 
the  gossip  of  the  next  township  and  that  of  Wash¬ 
ington  or  New  York.  Great  stage-coach  lines  — 
the  National  Road  Stage  Company,  the  Ohio 
National  Stage  Company,  and  others  —  advertised 
the  advantages  of  their  services  and  sought  pat¬ 
ronage  with  all  the  ingenuity  of  the  modern  rail¬ 
road.  Taverns  and  roadhouses  of  which  no  trace 
remains  today  offered  entertainment  at  any  figure. 


168 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


and  of  almost  any  character,  that  the  customer  de¬ 
sired.  Eastward  flowed  a  steady  stream  of  wagon- 
trains  of  flour,  tobacco,  and  pork,  with  great  droves 
of  cattle  and  hogs  to  be  fattened  for  the  Philadel¬ 
phia  or  Baltimore  markets. 

At  almost  precisely  the  same  time  that  the  first 
shovelful  of  earth  was  turned  for  the  Cumberland 
Road,  people  dwelling  on  the  banks  of  the  upper 
Ohio  were  startled  by  the  spectacle  of  a  large  boat 
moving  majestically  down  stream  entirely  devoid 
of  sail,  oar,  pole,  or  any  other  visible  means  of 
propulsion  or  control.  This  object  of  wonderment 
was  the  New  Orleans,  the  first  steamboat  to  be 
launched  on  western  waters. 

The  conquest  of  the  steamboat  was  speedy  and 
complete.  Already  in  1819  there  were  sixty-three 
such  craft  on  the  Ohio,  and  in  1834  —  when  the 
total  shipping  tonnage  of  the  Atlantic  seaboard  was 
76,064,  and  of  the  British  Empire  82,696  —  the 
tonnage  afloat  on  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  was 
126,278.  Vessels  regularly  ascended  the  navigable 
tributaries  of  the  greater  streams  in  quest  of  car¬ 
goes,  and  while  craft  of  other  sorts  did  not  dis¬ 
appear,  the  great  and  growing  commerce  of  the 
river  was  revolutionized. 

In  the  upbuilding  of  steamboat  navigation 


THE  WAR  OF  1812 


169 


> 


the  thriving,  bustling,  boastful  spirit  of  the  West 
found  ample  play.  Steamboat  owners  vied  with 
one  another  in  adorning  their  vessels  with  bow¬ 
sprits,  figureheads,  and  all  manner  of  tinseled 
decorations,  and  in  providing  elegant  accommoda¬ 
tions  for  passengers;  engineers  and  pilots  gloried 
in  speed  records  and  challenged  one  another  to 
races  which  ended  in  some  of  the  most  shocking 
steamboat  disasters  known  to  history.  The  un¬ 
conscious  bombast  of  an  anonymous  Cincinnati 
writer  in  Timothy  Flint’s  Western  Monthly  Review 
in  1827  gives  us  the  real  flavor  of  the  steamboat 
business  on  the  threshold  of  the  Jacksonian  era: 

An  Atlantic  cit,  who  talks  of  us  under  the  name  of  back¬ 
woodsmen,  would  not  believe,  that  such  fairy  structures 
of  oriental  gorgeousness  and  splendor  as  the  W  ashingtony 
the  Florida ,  the  Walk  in  the  Water ,  The  Lady  of  the  Lake , 
etc.,  etc.,  had  ever  existed  in  the  imaginative  brain  of  a 
romancer,  much  less,  that  they  were  actually  in  exist¬ 
ence,  rushing  down  the  Mississippi,  as  on  the  wings  of 
the  wind,  or  plowing  up  between  the  forests,  and  walk¬ 
ing  against  the  mighty  current  ‘‘as  things  of  life,”  bear¬ 
ing  speculators,  merchants,  dandies,  fine  ladies,  every¬ 
thing  real,  and  everything  affected,  in  the  form  of 
humanity,  with  pianos,  and  stocks  of  novels,  and  cards, 
and  dice,  and  flirting,  and  love-making,  and  drinking, 
and  champagne,  and  on  the  deck,  perhaps,  three  hun¬ 
dred  fellows,  who  have  seen  alligators,  and*  neither  fear 


170 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


whiskey,  nor  gun-powder.  A  steamboat,  coming  from 
New  Orleans,  brings  to  the  remotest  villages  of  our 
streams,  and  the  very  doors  of  the  cabins,  a  little  Paris, 
a  section  of  Broadway,  or  a  slice  of  Philadelphia,  to 
ferment  in  the  minds  of  our  young  people,  the  innate 
propensity  for  fashions  and  finery.  .  .  .  Cincinnati 
will  soon  be  the  centre  of  the  “celestial  empire,”  as  the 
Chinese  say;  and  instead  of  encountering  the  storms,  the 
seasickness,  and  dangers  of  a  passage  from  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico  to  the  Atlantic,  whenever  the  Erie  Canal  shall 
be  completed,  the  opulent  southern  planters  will  take 
their  families,  their  dogs  and  parrots,  through  a  world 
•  of  forests,  from  New  Orleans  to  New  York,  giving  us  a 
call  by  the  way.  When  they  are  more  acquainted  with 
us,  their  voyage  will  often  terminate  here. 1 

The  new  West  was  frankly  materialistic.  Yet  its 
interests  were  by  no  means  restricted  to  steam¬ 
boats,  turnpikes,  crops,  exports,  and  money-mak¬ 
ing.  It  concerned  itself  much  with  religion.  One 
of  the  most  familiar  figures  on  trail  and  highway 
was  the  circuit-rider,  with  his  Bible  and  saddle¬ 
bags;  and  no  community  was  so  remote,  or  so 
hardened,  as  not  to  be  raised  occasionally  to  a 
frenzy  of  religious  zeal  by  the  crude  but  terrifying 
eloquence  of  the  revivalist.  For  education,  like¬ 
wise,  there  was  a  growing  regard.  Nowhere  did 
the  devotion  of  the  Western  people  to  the  twin 


‘Vol.  i,  p.  25  (May,  1827). 


THE  WAR  OF  1812 


171 


ideas  of  democracy  and  enlightenment  find  nobler 
expression  than  in  the  clause  of  the  Indiana  con¬ 
stitution  of  1816  making  it  the  duty  of  the  Legisla¬ 
ture  to  provide  for  “a  general  system  of  education, 
ascending  in  a  regular  gradation  from  township 
schools  to  a  state  university,  wherein  tuition  shall 
be  gratis,  and  equally  open  to  all.”  This  principle 
found  general  application  throughout  the  North¬ 
west.  By  1830  common  schools  existed  wherever 
population  was  sufficient  to  wrarrant  the  expense; 
academies  and  other  secondary  schools  were 
springing  up  in  Cincinnati,  Louisville,  St.  Louis, 
and  many  lesser  places;  state  universities  existed 
in  Ohio  and  Indiana;  and  Baptists,  Methodists, 
and  Presbyterians  had  begun  to  dot  the  country 
with  small  colleges.  Literature  developed  slowly. 
But  newspapers  appeared  almost  before  there 
wTere  readers;  and  that  the  new  society  was  by  no 
means  without  cultural,  and  even  sesthetic,  aspira¬ 
tion  is  indicated  by  the  long-continued  rivalry  of 
Cincinnati  and  Lexington,  Kentucky,  to  be  known 
as  “the  Athens  of  the  West.” 


CHAPTER  X 


SECTIONAL  CROSS  CURRENTS 

The  War  of  1812  did  much  in  America  to  stimu¬ 
late  national  pride  and  to  foster  a  sense  of  unity. 
None  the  less,  the  decade  following  the  Peace 
of  Ghent  proved  the  beginning  of  a  long  era 
in  which  the  point  of  view  in  politics,  business, 
and  social  life  was  distinctly  sectional.  New  Eng¬ 
land,  the  Middle  States,  the  South,  the  West  — 
all  were  bent  upon  getting  the  utmost  advantages 
from  their  resources;  all  were  viewing  public  ques¬ 
tions  in  the  light  of  their  peculiar  interests.  In 
the  days  of  Clay  and  Calhoun  and  Jackson  the 
nation’s  politics  were  essentially  a  struggle  for 
power  among  the  sections. 

There  was  a  time  when  the  frontier  folk  of 
the  trans-Alleghany  country  from  Lakes  to  Gulf 
were  much  alike.  New  Englanders  in  the  Re¬ 
serve,  Pennsylvanians  in  central  Ohio,  Virginians 
and  Carolinians  in  Kentucky  and  southern  Indiana, 

172 


SECTIONAL  CROSS  CURRENTS  173 


Georgians  in  Alabama  and  Mississippi,  Kentucki¬ 
ans  and  Tennesseeans  in  Illinois  and  Missouri  — 
all  were  pioneer  farmers  and  stock-raisers,  ab¬ 
sorbed  in  the  conquest  of  the  wilderness  and  all 
thinking,  working,  and  living  in  much  the  same 
way.  But  by  1820  the  situation  had  altered.  The 
West  was  still  a  “section,”  whose  interests  and 
characteristics  contrasted  sharply  with  those  of 
New  England  or  the  Middle  States.  Yet  upon 
occasion  it  could  act  with  very  great  effect,  as  for 
instance  when  it  rallied  to  the  support  of  Jackson 
and  bore  him  triumphantly  to  the  presidential 
chair.  Great  divergences,  however,  had  grown  up 
within  this  western  area;  differences  which  had 
existed  from  the  beginning  had  been  brought  into 
sharp  relief.  Under  play  of  climatic  and  indus¬ 
trial  forces,  the  West  had  itself  fallen  apart  into 
sections. 

Foremost  was  the  cleavage  between  North  and 
South,  on  a  line  marked  roughly  by  the  Ohio 
River.  Climate,  soil,  the  cotton  gin,  and  slavery 
combined  to  make  of  the  southern  West  a  great 
cotton-raising  area,  interested  in  the  same  things 
and  swayed  by  the  same  impulses  as  the  southern 
seaboard.  Similarly,  economic  conditions  com¬ 
bined  to  make  of  the  northern  West  a  land  of  small 


174 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


farmers,  free  labor,  town-building,  and  diversified 
manufactures  and  trade.  A  very  large  chapter 
of  American  history  hinges  on  this  wedging  apart 
of  Southwest  and  Northwest.  To  this  day  the 
two  great  divisions  have  never  wholly  come  to¬ 
gether  in  their  ways  of  thinking. 

But  neither  of  these  western  segments  was  it¬ 
self  entirely  a  unit.  The  Northwest,  in  particu¬ 
lar,  had  been  settled  by  people  drawn  from  every 
older  portion  of  the  country,  and  as  the  frontier 
receded  and  society  took  on  a  more  matured  aspect, 
differences  of  habits  and  ideas  were  accentuated 
rather  than  obscured.  Men  can  get  along  very 
well  with  one  another  so  long  as  they  live  apart 
and  do  not  try  to  regulate  their  everyday  affairs 
on  common  lines. 

The  great  human  streams  that  poured  into  the 
Northwest  flowed  from  two  main  sources  —  the 
nearer  South  and  New  England.  Ohio,  Indiana, 
and  Illinois  were  first  peopled  by  men  and  women 
of  Southern  stock.  Some  migrated  directly  from 
Virginia,  the  Carolinas,  and  even  Georgia.  But 
most  came  from  Kentucky  and  Tennessee  and  rep¬ 
resented  the  second  generation  of  white  people  in 
those  States,  now  impelled  to  move  on  to  a  new 
frontier  by  the  desire  for  larger  and  cheaper  farms. 


SECTIONAL  CROSS  CURRENTS  175 


Included  in  this  Southern  element  were  many  rep¬ 
resentatives  of  the  well-to-do  classes,  who  were 
drawn  to  the  new  territories  by  the  opportunity 
for  speculation  in  land  and  for  political  prefer¬ 
ment,  and  by  the  opening  which  the  fast-growing 
communities  afforded  for  lawyers,  doctors,  and 
members  of  other  professions.  The  number  of  these 
would  have  been  larger  had  there  been  less  rigid  re¬ 
strictions  upon  slaveholding.  It  was  rather,  how¬ 
ever,  the  poorer  whites  —  the  more  democratic, 
non-slaveholding  Southern  element  —  that  formed 
the  bulk  of  the  earlier  settlers  north  of  the  Ohio. 

There  was  much  westward  migration  from  New 
England  before  the  War  of  1812,  but  only  a  small 
share  of  it  reached  the  Ohio  country,  and  practi¬ 
cally  none  went  beyond  the  Western  Reserve. 
The  common  goal  was  western  New  York.  Here 
again  there  was  some  emigration  of  the  well-to-do 
and  influential.  But,  as  in  the  South,  the  people 
who  moved  were  mainly  those  who  were  having 
difficulty  in  making  ends  meet  and  who  could  see 
no  way  of  bettering  their  condition  in  their  old 
homes.  The  back  country  of  Maine,  New  Hamp¬ 
shire,  Vermont,  and  western  Massachusetts  was 
filled  with  people  of  this  sort  —  poor,  discontented, 
restless,  without  political  influence,  and  needing 


176 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


only  the  incentive  of  cheap  lands  in  the  West  to 
sever  the  slender  ties  which  bound  them  to  the 
stony  hillsides  of  New  England. 

After  1815  New  England  emigration  rose  to 
astonishing  proportions,  and  an  increasing  number 
of  the  homeseekers  passed  —  directly  or  after  a 
sojourn  in  the  Lower  Lake  country  of  New  York 
—  into  the  Northwest.  The  opening  of  the  Erie 
Canal  in  1825  made  the  westward  journey  easier 
and  cheaper.  The  routes  of  travel  led  to  Lakes  On¬ 
tario  and  Erie,  thence  to  the  Reserve  in  northern 
Ohio,  thence  by  natural  stages  into  other  portions 
of  northern  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois,  and  eventu¬ 
ally  into  southern  Michigan  and  Wisconsin.  Not 
until  after  1830  did  the  stalwart  homeseekers 
penetrate  north  of  Detroit;  the  great  stretches  of 
prairie  between  Lakes  Erie  and  Michigan,  and  to 
the  south  —  left  quite  untouched  by  Southern 
pioneers  —  satisfied  every  desire  of  these  restless 
farmers  from  New  England. 

For  a  long  time  Southerners  determined  the 
course  of  history  in  the  Old  Northwest.  They 
occupied  the  field  first,  and  they  had  the  great 
advantage  of  geographical  proximity  to  their  old 
homes.  Furthermore,  they  lived  more  compactly; 
the  New  Englanders  were  not  only  spread  over 


SECTIONAL  CROSS  CURRENTS  177 


the  broader  prairie  stretches  of  the  north,  but 
scattered  to  some  extent  throughout  the  entire 
region  between  the  Lakes  and  the  Ohio. 1  But  by 
the  middle  of  the  century  not  only  had  the  score 
of  northern  counties  been  inundated  by  the 
“Yankees”  but  the  waves  were  pushing  far  into 
the  interior,  where  they  met  and  mingled  with 
the  counter-current.  Both  Illinois  and  Indiana 
became,  in  a  preeminent  degree,  melting-pots  in 
which  was  fused  by  slow  and  sometimes  painful 
processes  an  amalgam  which  Bryce  and  other  keen 
observers  have  pronounced  the  most  American 
thing  in  America. 

1  In  1820  the  population  of  Indiana  was  confined  almost  entirely  to 
the  southern  third  of  the  State,  although  the  removal  of  the  capital,  in 
1825,  from  Corydon  to  Indianapolis  was  carried  out  in  the  confidence 
that  eventually  that  point  would  become  the  State’s  populational 
as  it  was  its  geographical  center.  When,  in  1818,  Illinois  was  ad¬ 
mitted  to  the  Union  its  population  was  computed  at  40,000. 
The  figure  was  probably  excessive;  at  all  events,  contemporaries 
testify  that  so  eager  were  the  people  for  statehood  that  many  were 
counted  twice,  and  even  emigrants  were  counted  as  they  passed 
through  the  Territory.  But  the  census  of  1820  showed  a  population 
of  55,000,  settled  almost  wholly  in  the  southern  third  of  the  State, 
with  narrow  tongues  of  inhabited  land  stretching  up  the  river  valleys 
toward  the  north.  Two  slave  States  flanked  the  southern  end  of  the 
commonwealth;  almost  half  of  its  area  lay  south  of  a  westward  pro¬ 
longation  of  Mason  and  Dixon’s  line.  Save  for  a  few  Pennsylvanians, 
the  people  were  Southern;  the  State  was  for  all  practical  purposes  a 
Southern  State.  As  late  as  1883  the  Legislature  numbered  fifty-eight 
members  from  the  South,  nineteen  from  the  Middle  States,  and  only 
four  from  New  England. 

12 


178 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


Of  the  great  national  issues  in  the  quarter-cen¬ 
tury  following  the  War  of  1812  there  were  some 
upon  which  people  of  the  Northwest,  in  spite  of 
their  differing  points  of  view,  could  very  well  agree. 
Internal  improvement  was  one  of  these.  Roads 
and  canals  were  necessary  outlets  to  southern 
and  eastern  markets,  and  any  reasonable  pro¬ 
posal  on  this  subject  could  be  assured  of  the  North¬ 
west’s  solid  support.  The  thirty-four  successive 
appropriations  to  1844  for  the  Cumberland  Road, 
'  Calhoun’s  “Bonus  Bill”  of  1816,  the  bill  of  1822 
authorizing  a  continuous  national  jurisdiction  over 
the  Cumberland  Road,  the  comprehensive  “Sur¬ 
vey  Bill”  of  1824,  the  Maysville  Road  Bill  of  1830 
—  all  were  backed  by  the  united  strength  of  the 
Northwestern  senators  and  representatives. 

So  with  the  tariff.  The  cry  of  the  East  for 
protection  to  infant  industries  was  echoed  by  the 
struggling  manufacturers  of  Cincinnati,  Louisville, 
and  other  towns;  while  a  protective  tariff  as  a 
means  of  building  up  the  home  market  for  food¬ 
stuffs  and  raw  materials  seemed  to  the  Westerner 
an  altogether  reasonable  and  necessary  expedi¬ 
ent.  Ohio  alone  in  the  Northwest  had  an  op¬ 
portunity  to  vote  on  the  protective  bill  of  1816, 
and  gave  its  enthusiastic  support.  Ohio,  Indiana, 


SECTIONAL  CROSS  CURRENTS  179 


and  Illinois  voted  unitedly  for  the  bills  of  1820, 
1824,  1828,  and  1832.  The  principal  western 
champion  of  the  protective  policy  was  Henry  Clay, 
a  Kentuckian;  but  the  Northwest  supported  the 
policy  more  consistently  than  did  Clay’s  own  State 
and  section. 

On  the  National  Bank  the  position  of  the  North¬ 
west  was  no  less  emphatic.  The  people  were  lit¬ 
tle  troubled  by  the  question  of  constitutionality; 
but  believing  that  the  bank  was  an  engine  of  tyr¬ 
anny  in  the  hands  of  an  eastern  aristocracy, 
they  were  fully  prepared  to  support  Jackson  in  his 
determination  to  extinguish  that  “  un-American 
monopoly.” 

There  were  other  subjects  upon  which  agree¬ 
ment  was  reached  either  with  difficulty  or  not  at 
all.  One  of  these  was  the  form  of  local  govern¬ 
ment  which  should  be  adopted.  Southerners  and 
New  Englanders  brought  to  their  new  homes 
widely  differing  political  usages.  The  former  were 
accustomed  to  the  county  as  the  principal  local 
unit  of  administration.  It  was  a  relatively  large 
division,  whose  affairs  were  managed  by  elective 
officers,  mainly  a  board  of  commissioners.  The 
New  Englanders,  on  the  other  hand,  had  grown 
up  under  the  town-meeting  system  and  clung  to 


180 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


the  notion  that  an  indispensable  feature  of  demo¬ 
cratic  local  government  is  the  periodic  assembling 
of  the  citizens  of  a  community  for  legislative, 
fiscal,  and  electoral  purposes.  The  Illinois  con¬ 
stitution  of  1818  was  made  by  Southerners,  and 
naturally  it  provided  for  the  county  system.  But 
protest  from  the  “Yankee”  elements  became  so 
strong  that  in  the  new  constitution  of  1848  provi¬ 
sion  was  made  for  township  organization  wherever 
the  people  of  a  county  wanted  it;  and  this  form  of 
government,  at  first  prevalent  only  in  the  northern 
counties,  is  now  found  in  most  of  the  central  and 
southern  counties  as  well. 

The  most  deeply  and  continuously  dividing 
issue  in  the  Northwest,  as  in  the  nation  at  large, 
was  negro  slavery.  Although  written  by  Southern 
men,  the  Ordinance  of  1787  stipulated  that  there 
should  be  4 'neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servi¬ 
tude  in  the  said  territory,  otherwise  than  in  the 
punishment  of  crimes  whereof  the  party  shall 
have  been  duly  convicted.”  If  the  government 
of  the  Northwest  had  been  one  of  laws,  and  not 
of  men,  this  specific  provision  would  have  made 
the  territory  free  soil  and  would  have  relieved 
the  inhabitants  from  all  interest  in  the  4  4  peculiar 
institution.”  But  the  laws  never  execute  them- 


SECTIONAL  CROSS  CURRENTS  181 

selves  —  least  of  all  in  frontier  communities.  In 
point  of  fact,  considerable  numbers  of  slaves  were 
held  in  the  territory  until  the  nineteenth  century 
was  far  advanced.  As  late  as  1830  thirty-two 
negroes  were  held  in  servitude  in  the  single  town 
of  Vincennes.  Slavery  could  and  did  prevail  to  a 
limited  extent  because  existing  property  rights 
were  guaranteed  in  the  Ordinance  itself,  in  the 
deed  of  cession  by  Virginia,  in  the  Jay  Treaty  of 
1794,  and  in  other  fundamental  acts.  The  courts 
of  the  Northwest  held  that  slave-owners  whose 
property  could  be  brought  under  any  of  these 
guarantees  might  retain  that  property;  and  al¬ 
though  no  court  countenanced  further  importation, 
itinerant  Southerners  —  “  rich  planters  traveling 
in  their  family  carriages,  with  servants,  packs  of 
hunting-dogs,  and  trains  of  slaves,  their  nightly 
camp-fires  lighting  up  the  wilderness  where  so 
recently  the  Indian  hunter  had  held  possession’* 
—  occasionally  settled  in  southern  Indiana  or 
Illinois  and  with  the  connivance  of  the  authorities 
kept  some  of  their  dependents  in  slavery,  or  quasi¬ 
slavery,  for  decades. 

Of  actual  slaveholders  there  were  not  enough  to 
influence  public  sentiment  greatly.  But  the  people 
of  Southern  extraction,  although  neither  slave- 


182 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


holders  nor  desiring  to  become  such,  had  no  strong 
moral  convictions  on  the  subject.  Indeed,  they 
were  likely  to  feel  that  the  anti-slavery  restriction 
imposed  an  unfortunate  impediment  in  the  way 
of  immigration  from  the  South.  Hence  the  per¬ 
sistent  demand  of  citizens  of  Indiana  and  Illinois 
for  a  relaxation  of  the  drastic  prohibition  of  slavery 
in  the  Ordinance  of  1787.  In  1796  Congress  was 
petitioned  from  Kaskaskia  to  extend  relief;  in  1799 
the  territorial  Legislature  was  urged  to  bring  about 
a  repeal;  in  1802  an  Indiana  territorial  convention 
at  Vincennes  memorialized  Congress  in  behalf  of  a 
suspension  of  the  proviso  for  a  period  of  ten  years. 
Not  only  were  violations  of  the  law  winked  at, 
but  both  Indiana  and  Illinois  deliberately  built  up 
a  system  of  indenture  which  partook  strongly  of 
the  characteristics  of  slavery.  After  much  con¬ 
troversy,  Indiana,  in  1816,  framed  a  state  con¬ 
stitution  which  reiterated  the  language  of  the 
Northwest  Ordinance,  but  without  invalidating 
titles  to  existing  slave  property;  while  Illinois 
was  admitted  to  the  Union  in  1818  with  seven  or 
eight  hundred  slaves  upon  her  soil,  and  with  a 
constitution  which  continued  the  old  system  of 
indenture  with  slight  modification. 

In  a  heated  contest  in  Illinois  in  1824  over  the 


SECTIONAL  CROSS  CURRENTS  183 


question  of  calling  a  state  convention  to  draft  a 
constitution  legalizing  slavery  the  people  of  North¬ 
ern  antecedents  made  their  votes  tell  and  defeated 
the  project.  But,  like  other  parts  of  the  North¬ 
west,  this  State  never  became  a  unit  on  the  slav¬ 
ery  issue.  Certainly  it  never  became  abolitionist. 
By  an  almost  unanimous  vote  the  Legislature,  in 
1837,  adopted  joint  resolutions  which  condemned 
abolitionism  as  “more  productive  of  evil  than 
of  moral  and  political  good”;  and  in  Congress  in 
the  preceding  year  the  delegation  of  the  State 
had  given  solid  support  to  the  “gag  resolutions,” 
which  were  intended  to  deny  a  hearing  to  all 
petitions  on  the  slavery  question. 

Throughout  the  great  era  of  slavery  controversy 
the  Northwest  was  prolific  of  schemes  of  compro¬ 
mise,  for  the  constant  clash  of  Northern  and 
Southern  elements  developed  an  aptitude  for 
settlement  by  agreement  on  moderate  lines.  The 
people  of  the  section  as  a  whole  long  clung  to 
popular,  or  “squatter,”  sovereignty  as  the  su¬ 
premely  desirable  solution  of  the  slavery  question 
—  a  device  formulated  and  defended  by  two  of  the 
Northwest’s  own  statesmen,  Cass  and  Douglas, 
and  relinquished  only  slowly  and  reluctantly  under 
the  leadership,  not  of  a  New  England  abolitionist. 


184  THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 

but  of  a  statesman  of  Southern  birth  who  had 
come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  nation  could  not 
permanently  exist  half  slave  and  half  free. 

Cass,  Douglas,  Lincoln  —  all  were  adopted  sons 
of  the  Northwest,  and  the  career  of  every  one 
illustrates  not  only  the  prodigality  with  which 
the  back  country  showered  its  opportunities  upon 
men  of  industry  and  talent,  but  the  play  and 
interplay  of  sectional  and  social  forces  in  the  build¬ 
ing  of  the  newer  nation.  Cass  and  Douglas  were 
New  Englanders.  One  w’as  born  at  Exeter,  New 
Hampshire,  in  1782;  the  other  at  Brandon,  Ver¬ 
mont,  in  1813.  Lincoln  sprang  from  Virginian  and 
Kentuckian  stocks.  His  father’s  family  moved 
from  Virginia  to  Kentucky  at  the  close  of  the  Re¬ 
volution;  in  1784  his  grandfather  was  killed  by 
lurking  Indians,  and  his  father,  then  a  boy  of  six, 
was  saved  from  captivity  only  by  a  lucky  shot  of 
an  older  brother.  Lincoln  himself  was  born  in 

s 

1809.  Curiously  enough,  Cass  and  Douglas,  the 
New  Englanders,  played  their  roles  on  the  national 
stage  as  Jackson  Democrats,  while  Lincoln,  the 
Kentuckian  of  Virginian  ancestry,  became  a  Whig 
and  later  a  Republican. 

Cass  and  Douglas  were  well-born.  Cass’s  father 
was  a  thrifty  soldier-farmer  who  made  for  his 


SECTIONAL  CROSS  CURRENTS  185 


family  a  comfortable  home  at  Zanesville,  Ohio; 
Douglas’s  father  was  a  successful  physician.  Lin¬ 
coln  was  born  in  obscurity  and  wretchedness. 
His  father,  Thomas  Lincoln,  was  a  ne’er-do-well 
Kentucky  carpenter,  grossly  illiterate,  unable  or 
unwilling  to  rise  above  the  lowest  level  of  existence 
in  the  pioneer  settlements.  His  mother,  Nancy 
Hanks,  whatever  her  antecedents  may  have  been, 
was  a  woman  of  character,  and  apparently  of 
some  education.  But  she  died  when  her  son  was 
only  nine  years  of  age. 

Cass  and  Douglas  had  educational  opportunities 
which  in  their  day  were  exceptional .  B oth  attended 
famous  academies  and  received  instruction  in  the 
classics,  mathematics,  and  philosophy.  Both  grew 
up  in  an  environment  of  enlightenment  and  in¬ 
tegrity.  Lincoln,  on  the  other  hand,  got  a  few 
weeks  of  instruction  under  two  amateur  teachers  in 
Kentucky  and  a  few  months  more  in  Indiana  — 
in  all,  hardly  as  much  as  one  year;  and  as  a  boy 
he  knew  only  rough,  coarse  surroundings.  When, 
in  1816,  the  restless  head  of  the  family  moved  from 
Kentucky  to  southern  Indiana,  his  worldly  be¬ 
longings  consisted  of  a  parcel  of  carpenters’  tools 
and  cooking  utensils,  a  little  bedding,  and  about 
four  hundred  gallons  of  whiskey.  No  one  who  has 


186 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


not  seen  the  sordidness,  misery,  and  apparent  hope¬ 
lessness  of  the  life  of  the  “poor  whites”  even  to¬ 
day,  in  the  Kentucky  and  southern  Indiana  hills, 
can  fully  comprehend  the  chasm  which  separated 
the  boy  Lincoln  from  every  sort  of  progress  and 
distinction. 

All  three  men  prepared  for  public  life  by  em¬ 
bracing  the  profession  that  has  always,  in  this 
country,  proved  the  surest  avenue  to  preferment 
—  the  law.  But,  whereas  Cass  arrived  at  matur¬ 
ity  just  in  time  to  have  an  active  part  in  the  War  of 
1812,  and  in  this  way  to  make  himself  the  most 
logical  selection  for  the  governorship  of  the  newly 
organized  Michigan  Territory,  Douglas  saw  no 
military  service,  and  Lincoln  only  a  few  weeks  of 
service  during  the  Black  Hawk  War,  and  both 
were  obliged  to  seek  fame  and  fortune  along  the 
thorny  road  of  politics.  Following  admission  to 
the  bar  at  Jacksonville,  Illinois,  in  1834,  Douglas 
was  elected  public  prosecutor  of  the  first  judicial 
circuit  in  1835;  elected  to  the  state  Legislature  in 
1836;  appointed  by  President  Van  Buren  registrar 
of  the  land  office  at  Springfield  in  1837;  made  a 
judge  of  the  supreme  court  of  the  State  in  1841; 
and  elected  to  the  national  House  of  Representa¬ 
tives  in  1843.  Resourceful,  skilled  in  debate, 


SECTIONAL  CROSS  CURRENTS  187 


intensely  patriotic,  and  favored  with  many  win¬ 
ning  personal  qualities,  he  drew  to  himself  men  of 
both  Northern  and  Southern  proclivities  and  be¬ 
came  an  influential  exponent  of  broad  and  endur¬ 
ing  nationalism. 

Meanwhile,  after  a  first  defeat,  Lincoln  was 
elected  to  the  Illinois  Legislature  in  1834,  and  again 
in  1836.  When  he  gathered  all  of  his  worldly  be¬ 
longings  in  a  pair  of  saddle-bags  and  fared  forth  to 
the  new  capital,  Springfield,  to  settle  himself  to  the 
practice  of  law,  he  had  more  than  a  local  reputa¬ 
tion  for  oratorical  power;  and  events  were  to  prove 
that  he  had  not  only  facility  in  debate  and  famil¬ 
iarity  with  public  questions,  but  incomparable 
devotion  to  lofty  principles.  In  the  subsequent 
unfolding  of  the  careers  of  Lincoln  and  Douglas  — 
especially  in  the  turn  of  events  that  brought  to 
each  a  nomination  for  the  presidency  by  a  great 
party  in  1860  —  there  was  no  small  amount  of 
good  luck  and  sheer  accident.  But  it  is  equally 
true  that  by  prodigious  effort  Kentuckian  and 
Vermonter  alike  hewed  out  their  own  ways  to 
greatness. 

It  was  the  glory  of  the  Northwest  to  offer  a 
competence  to  the  needy,  the  baffled,  the  dis¬ 
couraged,  the  tormented  of  the  eastern  States  and 


188 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


of  Europe.  The  bulk  of  its  fast-growing  popula¬ 
tion  consisted,  it  is  true,  of  ordinary  folk  who 
could  have  lived  on  in  fair  comfort  in  the  older 
sections,  yet  who  were  ambitious  to  own  more 
land,  to  make  more  money,  and  to  secure  larger 
advantages  for  their  children.  But  nowhere  else 
was  the  road  for  talent  so  wide  open,  entirely  ir¬ 
respective  of  inheritance,  possessions,  education, 
environment.  Nowhere  outside  of  the  trans- 
Alleghany  country  would  the  rise  of  a  Lincoln 
have  been  possible. 


CHAPTER  XI 


THE  UPPER  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY 

While  the  Ohio  country  —  the  lower  half  of 
the  States  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois  —  was 
throwing  off  its  frontier  character,  the  remoter 
Northwest  was  still  a  wilderness  frequented  only 
by  fur-traders  and  daring  explorers.  And  that 
far  Northwest  by  the  sources  of  the  Mississippi 
had  been  penetrated  by  few  white  men  since  the 
seventeenth  century.  The  earliest  white  visitors 
to  the  upper  Mississippi  are  not  clearly  known. 
They  may  have  been  Pierre  Radisson  and  his 
brother-in-law,  Menard  des  Grosseilliers,  who  are 
alleged  to  have  covered  the  long  portage  from 
Lake  Superior  to  the  Mississippi  in  or  about  1665; 
but  the  matter  rests  entirely  on  how  one  interprets 
Radisson’s  vague  account  of  their  western  peram¬ 
bulations.  At  all  events,  in  1680  —  seven  years 
after  the  descent  of  the  river  from  the  Wiscon¬ 
sin  to  the  Arkansas  by  Marquette  and  Joliet  — 

189 


190 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


Louis  Hennepin,  under  instructions  from  La  Salle, 
explored  the  stream  from  the  mouth  of  the  Illi¬ 
nois  to  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony,  where  the  city  of 
Minneapolis  now  stands,  five  hundred  miles  from 
the  true  source. 

There  the  matter  of  exploration  rested  until 
the  days  of  Thomas  Jefferson,  when  the  purchase 
of  Louisiana  lent  fresh  interest  to  northwestern 
geography.  In  1805  General  James  Wilkinson,  in 
military  command  in  the  West,  dispatched  Lieu¬ 
tenant  Zebulon  M.  Pike  with  a  party  of  twenty 
men  from  St.  Louis  to  explore  the  headwaters  of 
the  great  river,  make  peace  with  the  Indians,  and 
select  sites  for  fortified  posts.  From  his  winter 
quarters  near  the  Falls,  Pike  pushed  northward  over 
the  snow  and  ice  until,  early  in  1806,  he  reached 
Leech  Lake,  in  Cass  County,  Minnesota,  which  he 
wrongly  took  to  be  the  source  of  the  Father  of 
Waters.  It  is  little  wonder  that,  at  a  time  when 
the  river  and  lake  surfaces  were  frozen  over  and 
the  whole  country  heavily  blanketed  with  snow, 
he  should  have  found  it  difficult  to  disentangle 
the  maze  of  streams  and  lakes  which  fill  the  low- 
lying  region  around  the  headwaters  of  the  Missis¬ 
sippi,  the  Red  River,  and  the  Lake  of  the  Woods. 
In  1820  General  Cass,  Governor  of  Michigan, 


THE  UPPER  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY  191 


which  then  had  the  Mississippi  for  its  western 
boundary,  led  an  expedition  into  the  same  region  as 
far  as  Cass  Lake,  where  the  Indians  told  him  that 
the  true  source  lay  some  fifty  miles  to  the  north¬ 
west.  It  remained  for  the  traveler  and  ethnologist 
Henry  Schoolcraft,  twelve  years  later,  to  discover 
Lake  Itasca,  in  modern  Clearwater  County,  which 
occupies  a  depression  near  the  center  of  the  rock- 
rimmed  basin  in  which  the  river  takes  its  rise. 

It  was  not  these  infrequent  explorers,  however, 
who  opened  paths  for  pioneers  into  the  remote 
Northwest,  but  traders  in  search  of  furs  and  pelts 
—  those  commercial  pathfinders  of  western  civil¬ 
ization.  There  is  scarcely  a  town  or  city  in  the 
State  of  Wisconsin  that  does  not  owe  its  origin, 
directly  or  indirectly,  to  these  men.  Cheap  and 
tawdry  enough  were  the  commodities  bartered  for 
these  wonderful  beaver  and  otter  pelts  —  ribbons 
and  gewgaws,  looking-glasses  and  combs,  blankets 
and  shawls  of  gaudy  color.  But  scissors  and 
knives,  gunpowder  and  shot,  tobacco  and  whiskey, 
went  also  in  the  traders’  packs,  though  traffic 
in  fire-water  was  forbidden.  These  goods,  upon 
arrival  at  Mackinac,  were  sent  out  by  canoes 
and  bateaux  to  the  different  posts,  where  they 
were  dealt  out  to  the  savages  directly  or  were  dis- 


192 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


patched  to  the  winter  camps  along  the  far-reach¬ 
ing  waterways.  “  Returning  home  in  the  spring, 
the  bucks  would  set  their  squaws  and  children 
at  making  maple-sugar  or  planting  corn,  water¬ 
melons,  potatoes,  and  squash,  while  they  them¬ 
selves  either  dawdled  their  time  away  or  hunted 
for  summer  furs.  In  the  autumn,  the  wild  rice  was 
garnered  along  the  sloughs  and  the  river  mouths, 
and  the  straggling  field  crops  were  gathered  in 
—  some  of  the  product  being  hidden  in  skillfully 
covered  pits,  as  a  reserve,  and  some  dried  for 
transportation  in  the  winter’s  campaign.  The  vil¬ 
lagers  were  now  ready  to  depart  for  their  hunt¬ 
ing-grounds,  often  hundreds  of  miles  away.  It  was 
then  that  the  trader  came  and  credits  were  wrangled 
over  and  extended,  each  side  endeavoring  to  get  the 
better  of  the  other.”1 

This  traffic  was  largely  managed  by  the  British 
in  Canada  until  1816,  when  an  act  of  Congress 
forbade  foreign  traders  to  operate  on  United  States 
soil.  But  a  heavier  blow  was  inflicted  in  the  es¬ 
tablishment  of  John  Jacob  Astor’s  American  Fur 
Company,  which  was  given  a  substantial  monopoly 
of  Indian  commerce.  From  its  headquarters  on 
Mackinac  Island  this  great  corporation  rapidly 

1  Th waites.  Story  of  Wisconsin,  p.  156. 


THE  UPPER  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY  193 


squeezed  the  clandestine  British  agents  out  of  the 
American  trade,  introduced  improved  methods, 
and  built  up  a  system  which  covered  the  entire 
fur-bearing  Northwest. 

Of  this  remoter  Northwest,  the  region  between 
Lakes  Erie  and  Michigan  was  the  most  accessible 
from  the  East;  yet  it  was  avoided  by  the  first  pio¬ 
neers,  who  labored  under  a  strange  misapprehen¬ 
sion  about  its  climate  and  resources.  In  spite  of 
the  fact  that  it  abounded  in  rich  bottom-lands 
and  fertile  prairies  and  was  destined  to  become 
one  of  the  most  bountiful  orchards  of  the  world, 
it  was  reported  by  early  prospectors  to  be  swampy 
and  unfit  for  cultivation.  Though  Governor  Cass 
did  his  best  to  overcome  this  prejudice,  for  years 
settlers  preferred  to  gather  mainly  about  Detroit, 
leaving  the  rich  interior  to  fur- traders.  When  en¬ 
lightenment  eventually  came,  population  poured 
in  with  a  rush.  Detroit  —  which  was  a  village  in 
1820  —  became  ten  years  later  a  thriving  city  of 
thirty  thousand  and  the  western  terminus  of  a 
steamboat  line  from  Buffalo,  which  year  after  year 
multiplied  its  traffic.  By  the  year  1837  the  great 
territory  lying  east  of  Lake  Michigan  was  ready 
for  statehood. 

Almost  simultaneously  the  region  to  the  west 

13 


194 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


of  Lake  Michigan  began  to  emerge  from  the  fur¬ 
trading  stage.  The  place  of  the  picturesque  trader, 
however,  was  not  taken  at  once  by  the  prosaic 
farmer.  The  next  figure  in  the  pageant  was  the 
miner.  The  presence  of  lead  in  the  stretch  of 
country  between  the  Wisconsin  and  Illinois  rivers 
was  known  to  the  Indians  before  the  coming  of  the 
white  man,  but  they  began  to  appreciate  its  value 
only  after  the  introduction  of  firearms  by  the 
French.  The  ore  lay  at  no  great  depth  in  the 
Galena  limestone,  and  the  aborigines  collected 
it  either  by  stripping  it  from  the  surface  or  by 
sinking  shallow  shafts  from  wdiich  it  was  hoisted 
in  deerskin  bags.  Shortly  after  the  War  of  1812 
American  prospectors  pushed  into  the  region,  and 
the  Government  began  granting  leases  on  easy 
terms  to  operators.  In  1823  one  of  these  men 
arrived  with  soldiers,  supplies,  skilled  miners, 
and  one  hundred  and  fifty  slaves;  and  thereafter 
the  “diggings”  fast  became  a  mecca  for  miners, 
smelters,  speculators,  merchants,  gamblers,  and 
get-rich-quick  folk  of  every  sort,  who  swarmed 
thither  by  thousands  from  every  part  of  the 
United  States,  especially  the  South,  and  even  from 
Europe.  “Mushroom  towns  sprang  up  all  over 
the  district;  deep-worn  native  paths  became  ore 


i 


THE  UPPER  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY  195 

roads  between  the  burrows  and  the  river-land¬ 
ings;  sink-holes  abandoned  by  the  Sauk  and  Foxes, 
when  no  longer  to  be  operated  with  their  crude 
tools,  were  reopened  and  found  to  be  exception¬ 
ally  rich,  while  new  diggings  and  smelting-fur¬ 
naces,  fitted  out  with  modern  appliances,  fairly 
dotted  the  map  of  the  country.”1 

Galena  was  the  entrepot  of  the  region.  A  trail 
cut  thither  from  Peoria  soon  became  a  well-worn 
coach  road;  roads  were  early  opened  to  Chicago 
and  Milwaukee.  In  1822  Galena  was  visited  by  a 
Mississippi  River  steamboat,  and  a  few  years  later 
regular  steamboat  traffic  was  established.  And 
it  was  by  these  roadways  and  waterways  that 
homeseekers  soon  began  to  arrive. 

The  invasion  of  the  white  man,  accompanied 
though  it  was  by  treaties,  was  bitterly  resented 
by  the  Indian  tribes  who  occupied  the  Northwest 
above  the  Illinois  River.  These  Sioux,  Sauk  and 
Foxes,  and  Winnebagoes,  with  remnants  of  other 
tribes,  carried  on  an  intermittent  warfare  for  years, 
despite  the  efforts  of  the  Federal  Government  to 
define  tribal  boundaries;  and  between  red  men  and 
white  men  coveting  the  same  lands  causes  of  irrita- 

1  Thwaites,  Story  of  Wisconsin,  p.  163. 


196 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


tion  were  never  wanting.  In  1827  trouble  which 
had  been  steadily  brewing  came  to  the  boiling- 
point.  Predatory  expeditions  in  the  north  were 
reported;  the  Winnebagoes  were  excited  by  rumors 
that  another  war  between  the  United  States  and 
Great  Britain  was  imminent;  an  incident  or  even 
an  accident  was  certain  to  provoke  hostilities. 
The  incident  occurred.  When  Red  Bird,  a  petty 
Winnebago  chieftain  dwelling  in  a  “town”  on  the 
Black  River,  was  incorrectly  informed  that  two 
Winnebago  braves  who  had  been  imprisoned  at 
Prairie  du  Chien  had  been  executed,  he  promptly 
instituted  vengeance.  A  farmer’s  family  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Prairie  du  Chien  was  massacred, 
and  two  keel-boats  returning  down  stream  from 
Fort  Snelling  were  attacked,  with  some  loss  of 
life.  The  settlers  hastily  repaired  the  old  fort  and 
also  dispatched  messengers  to  give  the  alarm. 
Galena  sent  a  hundred  militiamen;  a  battalion 
came  down  from  Fort  Snelling;  Governor  Cass 
arrived  on  the  spot  by  way  of  Green  Bay;  Gen¬ 
eral  Atkinson  brought  up  a  full  regiment  from 
Jefferson  Barracks,  near  St.  Louis;  and  finally 
Major  Whistler  proceeded  up  the  Fox  with  a 
portion  of  the  troops  stationed  at  Fort  Howard, 
on  Green  Bay. 


THE  UPPER  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY  197 


When  all  was  in  readiness,  the  Winnebagoes  were 
notified  that,  unless  Red  Bird  and  his  principal 
accomplice,  Wekau,  were  promptly  surrendered, 
the  tribe  would  be  exterminated.  The  threat  had 
its  intended  effect,  and  the  two  culprits  duly 
presented  themselves  at  Whistler’s  camp  on  the 
Fox- Wisconsin  portage,  in  full  savage  regalia,  and 
singing  their  war  dirges.  Red  Bird,  who  was  an 
Indian  of  magnificent  physique  and  lofty  bearing, 
had  but  one  request  to  make  —  that  he  be  not 
committed  to  irons  —  and  this  request  was  granted. 
At  Prairie  du  Chien,  whither  the  two  were  sent  for 
trial,  he  had  opportunities  to  escape,  but  he  re¬ 
fused  to  violate  his  word  by  taking  advantage  of 
them.  Following  their  trial,  the  redskins  were 
condemned  to  be  hanged.  Unused  to  captivity, 
however,  Red  Bird  languished  and  soon  died, 
while  his  accomplice  was  pardoned  by  President 
Adams.  In  1828  Fort  Winnebago  was  erected 
on  the  site  of  Red  Bird’s  surrender. 

The  Winnebagoes  now  agreed  to  renounce  for¬ 
ever  their  claims  to  the  lead  mines.  Furthermore, 
in  the  same  year,  the  site  of  the  principal  Sauk 
village  and  burying-ground,  on  Rock  River,  three 
miles  south  of  the  present  city  of  Rock  Island,  was 
sold  by  the  Government,  and  the  Sauk  and  Foxes 


198 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


resident  in  the  vicinity  were  given  notice  to  leave. 
Under  the  Sauk  chieftain  Keokuk  most  of  the  dis¬ 
possessed  warriors  withdrew  peacefully  beyond 
the  Mississippi,  and  two  years  later  the  tribal 
representatives  formally  yielded  all  claims  to  lands 
east  of  that  stream.  Some  members  of  the  tribe, 
however,  established  themselves  on  the  high  bluff 

which  has  since  been  known  as  Black  Hawk’s 

\ 

Watch  Tower  and  defied  the  Government  to 
remove  them. 

The  leading  spirit  in  this  protest  was  Black 
Hawk,  who  though  neither  born  a  chief  nor  elected 
to  that  dignity,  had  long  been  influential  in  the 
village  and  among  his  people  at  large.  During  the 
War  of  1812  he  became  an  implacable  enemy  of 
the  Americans,  and,  after  fighting  with  the  British 
at  the  battles  of  Frenchtown  and  the  Thames,  he 
returned  to  Illinois  and  carried  on  a  border  war¬ 
fare  which  ended  only  with  the  signing  of  a  special 
treaty  of  peace  in  1816.  For  years  thereafter 
he  was  accustomed  to  lead  his  “British  band” 
periodically  across  northern  Illinois  and  southern 
Michigan  to  the  British  Indian  agency  to  receive 
presents  of  arms,  ammunition,  provisions,  and 
trinkets;  and  he  was  a  principal  intermediary  in 
the  British  intrigues  which  gave  Cass,  as  superin- 


THE  UPPER  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY  199 


tendent  of  Indian  affairs  in  the  Northwest,  many 
uneasy  days.  He  was  ever  a  restless  spirit  and  a 
promoter  of  trouble,  although  one  must  admit 
that  he  had  some  justice  on  his  side  and  that  he 
was  probably  honest  and  sincere.  Tall,  spare, 
with  pinched  features,  exceptionally  high  cheek¬ 
bones,  and  a  prominent  Roman  nose,  he  was  a 
figure  to  command  attention  —  the  more  so  by 
reason  of  the  fact  that  he  had  practically  no  eye¬ 
brows  and  no  hair  except  a  scalp-lock,  in  which  on 
state  occasions  he  fastened  a  flaming  bunch  of  dyed 
eagle  feathers. 

Returning  from  their  hunt  in  the  spring  of  1830, 
Black  Hawk  and  his  warriors  found  the  site  of  their 
town  preempted  by  white  settlers  and  their  an¬ 
cestral  burying-ground  ploughed  over.  In  deep 
rage,  they  set  off  for  Malden,  where  they  were 
liberally  entertained  and  encouraged  to  rebel. 
Coming  again  to  the  site  of  their  village  a  year 
later,  they  were  peremptorily  ordered  away.  This 
time  they  resolved  to  stand  their  ground,  and 
Black  Hawk  ordered  the  squatters  themselves  to 
withdraw  and  gave  them  until  the  middle  of  the 
next  day  to  do  so.  Black  Hawk  subsequently 
maintained  that  he  did  not  mean  to  threaten 
bloodshed.  But  the  settlers  so  construed  his  com- 


200 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


mand  and  deluged  Governor  Reynolds  with  peti¬ 
tions  for  help.  With  all  possible  speed,  sixteen 
hundred  volunteers  and  ten  companies  of  United 
States  regulars  were  dispatched  to  the  scene,  and 
on  the  25th  of  June,  they  made  an  impressive  dem¬ 
onstration  within  view  of  the  village.  In  the  face 
of  such  odds  discretion  seemed  the  better  part 
of  valor,  and  during  the  succeeding  night  Black 
Hawk  and  his  followers  quietly  paddled  across 
the  Mississippi.  Four  days  later  they  signed  an 
agreement  never  to  return  to  the  eastern  banks 
without  express  permission  from  the  United  States 
Government. 

On  the  Indian  side  this  compact  was  not  meant 
to  be  kept.  Against  the  urgent  advice  of  Keokuk 
and  other  leaders,  Black  Hawk  immediately  began 
preparations  for  a  campaign  of  vengeance.  Brit¬ 
ish  intrigue  lent  stimulus,  and  a  crafty  “prophet,  ” 
who  was  chief  of  a  village  some  thirty-five  miles 
up  the  Rock,  made  it  appear  that  aid  would 
be  given  by  the  Potawatomi,  Winnebagoes,  and 
perhaps  other  powerful  peoples.  In  the  first  week 
of  April,  1832,  the  disgruntled  leader  and  about 
five  hundred  braves,  with  their  wives  and  children, 
crossed  the  Mississippi  at  Yellow  Banks  and  as¬ 
cended  the  Rock  River  to  the  prophet’s  town,  with 


THE  UPPER  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY  201 


a  view  to  raising  a  crop  of  corn  during  the  summer 
and  taking  the  war-path  in  the  fall. 

The  invasion  created  much  alarm  throughout 
the  frontier  country.  The  settlers  drew  together 
about  the  larger  villages,  which  were  put  as 
rapidly  as  possible  in  a  state  of  defense.  Again 
the  Governor  called  for  volunteers,  and  again  the 
response  more  than  met  the  expectation.  Four 
regiments  were  organized,  and  to  them  were  joined 
four  hundred  regulars.  One  of  the  first  persons 
to  come  forward  with  an  offer  of  his  services 
was  a  tall,  ungainly,  but  powerful  young  man 
from  Sangamon  County,  who  had  but  two  years 
before  settled  in  the  State,  and  who  was  at  once 
honored  with  the  captaincy  of  his  company.  This 
man  was  Abraham  Lincoln.  Other  men  whose 
names  loom  large  in  American  history  were  with 
the  little  army  also.  The  commander  of  the 
regulars  was  Colonel  Zachary  Taylor.  Among  his 
lieutenants  were  Jefferson  Davis  and  Albert  Sid¬ 
ney  Johnston,  and  Robert  Anderson,  the  defender 
of  Fort  Sumter  in  1860,  was  a  colonel  of  Illinois 
volunteers.  It  is  said  that  the  oath  of  allegiance 
was  administered  to  young  Lincoln  by  Lieutenant 
Jefferson  Davis ! 

Over  marshy  trails  and  across  streams  swollen 


202 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


by  the  spring  thaws  the  army  advanced  to  Dixon’s 
Ferry,  ninety  miles  up  the  Rock,  whence  a  de¬ 
tachment  of  three  hundred  men  was  sent  out, 
under  Major  Stillman,  to  reconnoitre.  Unluckily, 
this  force  seized  three  messengers  of  peace  dis¬ 
patched  by  Black  Hawk  and,  in  the  clash  which 
followed,  was  cut  to  pieces  and  driven  into  head¬ 
long  flight  by  a  mere  handful  of  red  warriors. 
The  effect  of  this  unexpected  affray  was  both  to 
stiffen  the  Indians  to  further  resistance  and  to 
precipitate  a  fresh  panic  throughout  the  frontier. 
All  sorts  of  atrocities  ensued,  and  Black  Hawk’s 
name  became  a  household  bugaboo  the  country 
over. 

Finally  a  new  levy  was  made  ready  and  sent 
north.  Pushing  across  the  overflowed  wilderness 
stretches,  past  the  sites  of  modern  Beloit  and 
Madison,  this  army,  four  thousand  strong,  came 
upon  the  fleeing  enemy  on  the  banks  of  the  Wis¬ 
consin  River,  and  at  Wisconsin  Heights,  near  the 
present  town  of  Prairie  du  Sac,  it  inflicted  a  severe 
defeat  upon  the  Indians.  Again  Black  Hawk  de¬ 
sired  to  make  peace,  but  again  he  was  frustrated, 
this  time  by  the  lack  of  an  interpreter.  The  red¬ 
skins’  flight  was  continued  in  the  direction  of  the 
Mississippi,  which  they  reached  in  midsummer. 


THE  UPPER  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY  203 


They  were  prevented  from  crossing  by  lack  of 
canoes,  and  finally  the  half-starved  band  found 
itself  caught  between  the  fire  of  a  force  of  regulars 
on  the  land  side  and  a  government  supply  steamer, 
the  Warrior ,  on  the  water  side,  and  between  these 
two  the  Indian  band  was  practically  annihilated. 

Thus  ended  the  war  —  a  contest  originating  in 
no  general  uprising  or  far-reaching  plan,  such  as 
marked  the  rebellions  instigated  by  Pontiac  and 
Tecumseh,  but  which  none  the  less  taxed  the 
strength  of  the  border  populations  and  opened  a 
new  chapter  in  the  history  of  the  remoter  north¬ 
western  territories.  Black  Hawk  himself  took  re¬ 
fuge  with  the  Winnebagoes  in  the  Dells  of  the  Wis¬ 
consin,  only  to  be  treacherously  delivered  over  to 
General  Street  at  Prairie  du  Chien.  Under  the 
terms  of  a  treaty  of  peace  signed  at  Fort  Armstrong 
(Rock  Island)  in  September,  the  fallen  leader  and 
some  of  his  accomplices  were  held  as  hostages, 
and  during  the  ensuing  winter  they  were  kept  at 
Jefferson  Barracks  (St.  Louis)  under  the  surveil¬ 
lance  of  Jefferson  Davis.  In  the  spring  of  1833 
they  were  taken  to  Washington,  where  they  had 
an  interview  with  President  Jackson.  “We  did 
not  expect  to  conquer  the  whites,”  Black  Hawk 
told  the  President;  “they  had  too  many  houses, 


204 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


too  many  men.  I  took  up  the  hatchet,  for  my 
part,  to  revenge  injuries  which  my  people  could 
no  longer  endure.  Had  I  borne  them  longer  with¬ 
out  striking,  my  people  would  have  said,  ‘Black 
Hawk  is  a  woman  —  he  is  too  old  to  be  a  chief  — 
he  is  no  Sauk.’”  After  a  brief  imprisonment  at 
Fortress  Monroe,  where  Jefferson  Davis  was  him¬ 
self  confined  at  the  close  of  the  Civil  War,  the 
captives  were  set  free,  and  were  taken  to  Phila¬ 
delphia,  New  York,  up  the  Hudson,  and  finally 
back  to  the  Rock  River  country. 

For  some  years  Black  Hawk  lived  quietly  on  a 
small  reservation  near  Des  Moines.  In  1837  the 
peace-loving  Keokuk  took  him  with  a  party  of 
Sauk  and  Fox  chiefs  again  to  Washington,  and  on 
this  trip  he  made  a  visit  to  Boston.  The  officials 
of  the  city  received  the  august  warrior  and  his 
companions  in  Faneuil  Hall,  and  the  Governor  of 
the  commonwealth  paid  them  similar  honor  at  the 
State  House.  Some  war-dances  were  performed 
on  the  Common  for  the  amusement  of  the  popu¬ 
lace,  and  afterwards  the  party  was  taken  to  see  a 
performance  by  Edwin  Forrest  at  the  Tremont 
Theatre.  Here  all  went  well,  except  that  at  an 
exciting  point  in  the  play  where  one  of  the  char¬ 
acters  fell  dying  the  Indians  burst  out  into  a  war- 


THE  UPPER  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY  205 


whoop,  to  the  considerable  consternation  of  the 
women  and  children  present. 

A  few  months  after  returning  to  his  Iowa  home. 
Black  Hawk,  now  seventy-one  years  of  age,  was 
gathered  to  his  fathers.  He  was  buried  about 
half  a  mile  from  his  cabin,  in  a  sitting  posture,  his 
left  hand  grasping  a  cane  presented  to  him  by 
Henry  Clay,  and  at  his  side  a  supply  of  food  and 
tobacco  sufficient  to  last  him  to  the  spirit  land, 
supposed  to  be  three  days’  travel.  “Rock  River,  ” 
he  said  in  a  speech  at  a  Fourth  of  July  celebra¬ 
tion  shortly  before  his  death,  “was  a  beautiful 
country.  I  liked  my  town,  my  cornfields, ~and  the 
home  of  my  people.  I  fought  for  it.  It  is  now 
yours.  Keep  it,  as  we  did.  It  will  produce  you 
good  crops.” 

The  Black  Hawk  War  opened  a  new  chapter  in 
the  history  of  the  Northwest.  The  soldiers  carried 
to  their  homes  remarkable  stories  of  the  richness 
and  attractiveness  of  the  northern  country,  and 
the  eastern  newspapers  printed  not  only  detailed 
accounts  of  the  several  expeditions  but  highly 
colored  descriptions  of  the  charms  of  the  region. 
Books  and  pamphlets  by  the  score  helped  to  at¬ 
tract  the  attention  of  the  country.  The  result 


206 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


was  a  heavy  influx  of  settlers,  many  of  them  com¬ 
ing  all  the  way  from  New  England  and  New  York, 
others  from  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio.  Lands  were 
rapidly  surveyed  and  placed  on  sale,  and  surviving 
Indian  hunting-grounds  were  purchased.  North¬ 
ern  Illinois  filled  rapidly  with  a  thrifty  farming 
population,  and  the  town  of  Chicago  became  an 
entrepot.  Further  north,  Wisconsin  had  been  or¬ 
ganized,  in  1836,  as  a  Territory,  including  not 
only  the  present  State  of  that  name  but  Iowa, 
Minnesota,  and  most  of  North  and  South  Dakota. 
As  yet  the  Iowa  country,  however,  had  been  visited 
by  few  white  people;  and  such  as  came  were  only 
hunters  and  trappers,  agents  of  the  American 
Fur  and  other  trading  companies,  or  independent 
traders.  Two  of  the  most  active  of  these  free¬ 
lances  of  early  days  —  the  French  Canadian  Du¬ 
buque  and  the  Englishman  Davenport  —  have  left 
their  names  to  flourishing  cities. 

To  recount  the  successive  purchases  by  which 
the  Government  freed  Iowa  soil  from  Indian  domi¬ 
nation  would  be  wearisome.  The  Treaty  of  1842 
with  the  Sauks  and  Foxes  is  typical.  After  a  so¬ 
journ  of  hardly  more  than  a  decade  in  the  Iowa 
country,  these  luckless  folk  were  now  persuaded  to 
yield  all  their  lands  to  the  United  States  and  re- 


THE  UPPER  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY  207 


tire  to  a  reservation  in  Kansas.  The  negotiations 
were  carried  out  with  all  due  regard  for  Indian 
susceptibilities.  Governor  Chambers,  resplendent 
in  the  uniform  of  a  brigadier-general  of  the  United 
States  army,  repaired  with  his  aides  to  the  ap¬ 
pointed  rendezvous,  and  there  the  chiefs  presented 
themselves,  arrayed  in  new  blankets  and  white 
deerskin  leggings,  with  full  paraphernalia  of  paint, 
feathers,  beads,  and  elaborately  decorated  war 
clubs.  Oratory  ran  freely,  although  through  the 
enforced  medium  of  an  interpreter.  The  chiefs 
harangued  for  hours  not  only  upon  the  beautiful 
meadows,  the  running  streams,  the  stately  trees, 
and  the  other  beloved  objects  which  they  were 
called  upon  to  surrender  to  the  white  man,  but 
upon  the  moon  and  stars  and  rain  and  hail  and 
wind,  all  of  which  were  alleged  to  be  more  attractive 
and  beneficent  in  Iowa  than  anywhere  else.  The 
Governor,  in  turn,  gave  the  Indians  some  good 
advice,  urging  them  to  live  peaceably  in  their  new 
homes,  to  be  industrious  and  self-supporting,  to 
leave  liquor  alone,  and,  in  general,  to  “be  a  credit 
to  the  country.”  When  every  one  had  talked  as 
much  as  he  liked,  the  treaty  was  solemnly  signed. 

The  “New  Purchase”  was  thrown  open  to  set¬ 
tlers  in  the  following  spring;  and  the  opening 


i 


208 


THE  OLD  NORTHWEST 


brought  scenes  of  a  kind  destined  to  be  reenacted 
scores  of  times  in  the  great  West  during  succeeding 
decades  —  the  borders  of  the  new  district  lined, 
on  the  eve  of  the  opening,  with  encamped  settlers 
and  their  families  ready  to  race  for  the  best  claims; 
horses  saddled  and  runners  picked  for  the  rush;  a 
midnight  signal  from  the  soldiery,  releasing  a  flood 
of  eager  land-hunters  armed  with  torches,  axes, 
stakes,  and  every  sort  of  implement  for  the  laying 
out  of  claims  with  all  possible  speed;  by  daybreak, 
many  scores  of  families  “squatting”  on  the  best 
pieces  of  ground  which  they  had  been  able  to 
reach;  innumerable  disputes,  with  a  general  read¬ 
justment  following  the  intervention  of  the  govern¬ 
ment  surveyors. 

The  marvelous  progress  of  the  upper  Mississippi 
Valley  is  briefly  told  by  a  succession  of  dates.  In 
1838  Iowa  was  organized  as  a  Territory;  in  1846  it 
was  admitted  as  a  State;  in  1848  Wisconsin  was 
granted  statehood;  and  in  1849  Minnesota  was 
given  territorial  organization  with  boundaries  ex¬ 
tending  westward  to  the  Missouri. 

Thus  the  Old  Northwest  had  arrived  at  the  goal 
set  for  it  by  the  large-visioned  men  who  framed 
the  Ordinance  of  1787;  every  foot  of  its  soil  was  in- 


THE  UPPER  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY  209 


eluded  in  some  one  of  the  five  thriving,  democratic 
commonwealths  that  had  taken  their  places  in  the 
Union  on  a  common  basis  with  the  older  States  of 
the  East  and  the  South.  Furthermore,  the  Missis¬ 
sippi  had  ceased  to  be  a  boundary.  A  magnificent 
vista  reaching  off  to  the  remoter  West  and  North¬ 
west  had  been  opened  up;  the  frontier  had  been 
pushed  far  out  upon  the  plains  of  Minnesota  and 
Iowa.  Decade  after  decade  the  powerful  epic  of 
westward  expansion,  shot  through  with  countless 
tales  of  heroism  and  sacrifice,  had  steadily  un¬ 
folded  before  the  gaze  of  an  astonished  world;  and 
the  end  was  not  yet  in  sight. 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTE 


There  is  no  general  history  of  the  Northwest  covering 
the  whole  of  the  period  dealt  with  in  this  book  except 
Burke  A.  Hinsdale,  The  Old  Northwest  (1888).  This  is 
a  volume  of  substantial  scholarship,  though  it  reflects 
but  faintly  the  life  and  spirit  of  the  people.  The 
nearest  approach  to  a  moving  narrative  is  James  K. 
Hosmer,  Short  History  of  the  Mississippi  Valley  (1901), 
which  tells  the  story  of  the  Middle  West  from  the 
earliest  explorations  to  the  close  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  within  a  brief  space,  yet  in  a  manner  to  arouse 
the  reader’s  interest  and  sympathy.  A  fuller  and  very 
readable  narrative  to  1796  will  be  found  in  Charles 
Moore,  The  Northwest  under  Three  Flags  (1900).  Still 
more  detailed,  and  enlivened  by  many  contemporary 
maps  and  plans,  is  Justin  Winsor,  The  Westward  Move¬ 
ment  (1899),  covering  the  period  from  the  pacification  of 
1763  to  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century.  Frederick 
J.  Turner,  Rise  of  the  New  West  (1906)  contains  several 
interesting  and  authoritative  chapters  on  western  de¬ 
velopment  after  the  War  of  1812;  and  John  B.  Mc- 
Master,  History  of  the  People  of  the  United  States  (8 
vols.,  1883-1913),  gives  in  the  fourth  and  fifth  volumes 
a  very  good  account  of  westward  migration. 

An  excellent  detailed  account  of  the  settlement  and 
development  of  a  single  section  of  the  Northwest  is 

£11 


212 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTE 


G.  N.  Fuller,  Economic  and  Social  Beginnings  of  Michi¬ 
gan,  Michigan  Historical  Publications,  Univ.  Series, 
No.  1  (1916).  A  very  readable  book  is  R.  G.  Thwaites, 
The  Story  of  Wisconsin  (rev.  ed.,  1899),  containing  a 
full  account  of  the  early  relations  of  white  men  and 
red  men,  and  of  the  Black  Hawk  War.  Mention  may 
be  made,  too,  of  H.  E.  Legler,  Leading  Events  of  Wiscon¬ 
sin  History  (1898). 

Among  the  volumes  dealing  with  the  diplomatic  his¬ 
tory  of  the  Northwest,  mention  should  be  made  of  two 
recent  studies:  C.  W.  Alvord,  The  Mississippi  Valley 
in  British  Politics  ( 2  vols.,  1917),  and  E.  S.  Corwin, 
French  Policy  and  the  American  Alliance  (1916). 

Aside  from  Lincoln,  few  men  of  the  earlier  North¬ 
west  have  been  made  the  subjects  of  well- written  bio¬ 
graphies.  Curiously,  there  are  no  modern  biographies, 
good  or  bad,  of  George  Rogers  Clark,  General  St.  Clair, 
or  William  Henry  Harrison.  John  R.  Spears,  Anthony 
Wayne  (1903)  is  an  interesting  book;  and  Andrew  C. 
McLaughlin,  Lewis  Cass  (1891),  and  Allen  Johnson, 
Stephen  A.  Douglas  (1908)  are  excellent.  Lives  of 
Lincoln  that  have  importance  for  their  portrayal  of 
western  society  include:  John  T.  Morse,  Jr.,  Abraham 
Lincoln  ( 2  vols.,  1893);  John  G.  Nicolay  and  John  Hay, 
Abraham  Lincoln ,  a  History  (10  vols.,  1890);  and  Ida 
M.  Tarbell,  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln  (new  ed.,  2  vols., 
1917). 

The  reader  will  do  well,  however,  to  turn  early  to 
some  of  the  works  within  the  field  which,  by  reason  of 
their  literary  quality  as  well  as  their  scholarly  worth, 
have  attained  the  dignity  of  classics.  Foremost  are 
the  writings  of  Francis  Parkman.  Most  of  these,  it  is 
true,  deal  with  the  history  of  the  American  interior 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTE 


213 


prior  to  1763.  But  Frontenac  and  New  France  under 
Louis  XIV  (Frontenac  edition,  1915),  and  A  Half- 
Century  of  Conflict  (2  vols.,  same  ed.)  furnish  the  neces¬ 
sary  background;  and  The  Conspiracy  of  Pontiac  (2 
vols.,  same  ed.)  is  indispensable.  Parkman’s  work 
closes  with  the  Indian  war  following  the  Treaty  of  1763. 
Theodore  Roosevelt’s  Winning  of  the  West  (4  vols., 
1889-96)  takes  up  the  story  at  that  point  and  carries 
it  to  the  collapse  of  the  Burr  intrigues  during  the  second 
administration  of  Thomas  Jefferson.  This  work  was  a 
pioneer  in  the  field.  In  the  light  of  recent  scholarship 
it  is  subject  to  criticism  at  some  points;  but  it  is  based 
on  careful  study  of  the  sources,  and  for  vividness  and 
interest  it  has  perhaps  not  been  surpassed  in  American 
historical  writing.  A  third  extensive  work  is  Archer  B. 
Hulbert,  Historic  Highways  of  America  (16  vols.,  1902- 
05).  In  writing  the  history  of  the  great  land  and 
water  routes  of  trade  and  travel  between  East  and 
West  the  author  found  occasion  to  describe,  in  interest¬ 
ing  fashion,  most  phases  of  western  life.  The  volumes 
most  closely  related  to  the  subject  matter  of  the  present 
book  are:  Military  Roads  of  the  Mississippi  Valley 
(VIII);  Waterways  of  Western  Expansion  (IX);  The 
Cumberland  Road  (X) ;  and  Pioneer  Roads  and  Experi¬ 
ences  of  Travellers  (XI-XII).  Mention  should  be  made 
also  of  Mr.  Hulbert’s  The  Ohio  River ,  a  Course  of  Em¬ 
pire  (1906). 

Further  references  will  be  found  appended  to  the 
articles  on  Illinois,  Indiana,  Michigan,  Ohio,  and  Wis¬ 
consin  in  The  Encyclopaedia  Britannica  (11th  edition). 

Opportunity  to  get  the  flavor  of  the  period  by  reading 
contemporary  literature  is  afforded  by  two  principal 
kinds  of  books.  One  is  reminiscences,  letters,  and 


214 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTE 


histories  written  by  the  Westerners  themselves.  Timo¬ 
thy  Flint’s  Recollections  of  the  Last  Ten  Years  (1826)  will 
be  found  interesting;  as  also  J.  Hall,  Letters  from  the 
West  (1828),  and  T.  Ford,  History  of  Illinois  (1854). 

The  second  type  of  materials  is  books  of  travel  written 
by  visitors  from  the  East  or  from  Europe.  Works  of 
this  nature  are  always  subject  to  limitations.  Even 
when  the  author  tries  to  be  accurate  and  fair,  his  in¬ 
formation  is  likely  to  be  hastily  gathered  and  incomplete 
and  his  judgments  unsound.  Between  1800  and  1840 
the  Northwest  was  visited,  however,  by  many  educated 
and  fair-minded  persons  who  wrote  readable  and  trust¬ 
worthy  descriptions  of  what  they  saw  and  heard.  A 
complete  list  cannot  be  given  here,  but  some  of  the  best 
of  these  books  are:  John  Melish,  Travels  in  the  United 
States  of  America  in  the  Years  1806  &  1807  and  1809 , 
1810  &  1811  (2  vols.,  1812);  William  Cobbett,  A  Year’s 
Residence  in  the  United  States  of  America  (1818);  Henry 
B.  Fearon,  Sketches  of  America  (1818);  Morris  Birkbeck, 
Letters  from  Illinois  (1818);  John  Bradbury,  Travels  in 
the  Interior  of  America  in  the  Years  1809 , 1810,  and  1811 
(1819);  Thomas  Hulme,  Journal  made  during  a  Tour  in 
the  Western  Countries  of  America ,  1818-1819  (1828);  and 
Michael  Chevalier,  Society ,  Manners ,  and  Politics  in  the 
United  States  (1839).  Copies  of  early  editions  of  some 
of  these  works  will  be  found  in  most  large  libraries.  But 
the  reader  is  happily  not  dependent  on  this  resource. 
Almost  all  of  the  really  important  books  of  the  kind  are 
reprinted,  with  introductions  and  explanatory  matter, 
in  Reuben  G.  Thwaites,  Early  Western  Travels ,  17J+8- 
181^6  (32  vols.,  1904-07),  which  is  one  of  our  chief  collec¬ 
tions  of  historical  materials. 


INDEX 


Abadie,  D\  Governor  of  the 
French,  New  Orleans,  33 
Adams,  John,  71,  72,  74 
Alabama,  Georgians  in,  173 
American  Fur  Company,  192- 
193 

Amherst,  General  Sir  Jeffrey,  3, 
14 

Anderson,  Robert,  201 
Aranda,  Count  d’,  quoted,  76 
Armstrong,  Fort  (Rock  Island), 
203 

Astor,  J.  J.,  192 

Atkinson,  General  Henry,  196 

Bank,  National,  179 
Beauvais,  M.,  of  Kaskaskia,  29 
Beletre,  Captain,  commandant 
at  Detroit,  4 

Birkbeck,  Morris,  quoted,  105- 
106 

Black  Hawk,  Indian  leader,  198- 
199;  enemy  of  Americans,  198, 
199-200;  rebellion,  160,  200- 
203;  after  defeat,  203-04;  later 
life  and  death,  204-05 
Blue  Licks,  Battle  of,  71 
Bouquet,  Colonel  Henry,  15-16, 
17 

Bushy  Run,  Battle  of,  15-16 

Cadillac,  see  La  Mothe-Cadillac 
Cahokia,  Pontiac  at,  18;  school 
for  Indians  at,  30;  under 
English,  31;  taken  by  Clark, 
48,  55;  British  try  to  seize,  69 
Caldwell,  Captain,  71 


Campbell,  Colonel,  British  com¬ 
mandant  at  Detroit,  6 
Campus  Martius,  fortification 
in  Ohio,  81 

Canada  passes  to  British  con¬ 
trol,  1 

Carver,  Jonathan,  12 
Cass,  Lewis,  statesman  of  the 
Northwest,  183;  life,  184-86; 
Governor  of  Michigan,  190; 
expedition  into  Mississippi 
regions,  190-91;  aids  against 
Indians,  196 
Cass  Lake,  191 

Chartres,  Fort,  French  com¬ 
mandant  sends  message  to 
Indians,  14;  Pontiac  at,  17; 
“center  of  life  and  fashion,” 
30;  after  cession  to  English, 
31;  Saint- Ange  commands, 
33;  Croghan  invited  to,  35; 
Sterling  reaches,  36 
Chillicothe  (O.),  100 
Chouteau,  Pierre,  32-33 
Cincinnati,  named,  82;  migration 
to,  99;  legislature  in,  131; 
education,  171 

Clark,  G.  R.,  in  Illinois  country, 
48;  life  and  character,  48-49; 
delegate  to  Virginia  Assembly, 
49;  proposes  capturing  British 
posts,  50;  commissioned  by 
Virginia  council,  51;  expedi¬ 
tion,  51-56;  at  Kaskaskia, 
59-60,  60-61;  expedition  to 
Vincennes,  61-66;  plans  ex¬ 
pedition  against  Detroit,  67; 
failure  of  plan,  68;  later  life 


215 


216 


INDEX 


Clark,  G.  R.- — Continued 
and  death,  68;  expedition 
against  Miami  towns,  71; 
agreement  of  1785  with 
Indians,  79 
Clay,  Henry,  164,  205 
Cleaveland,  Moses,  99 
Columbus  (O.),  Cumberland 
Road  reaches  (1833),  166 
Continental  Congress  claims 
Northwest,  71 

Corydon  (Ind.),  capital  removed 
from,  177  (note) 

Croghan,  George,  34-36 
Cumberland  Gap,  102 
Cumberland  Road,  165-68,  178 
Cutler,  Dr.  Manasseh,  80-81,  82 
Cuyahoga  River,  Pontiac  halts 
English  at,  3 

Davis,  Jefferson,  201,  203,  204 
Dearborn,  Fort,  149,  152,  153 
Deckhard  rifle,  120 
Defiance,  Fort,  92,  94 
Detroit,  occupied  by  French, 
2-3;  surrenders  to  English,  4; 
in  1760,  4-5;  Pontiac  plans 
destruction  of,  11;  council  with 
Indians  at,  17;  Clark  plans 
attack,  67-68;  British  refuse 
surrender,  83;  Wayne  obtains 
cession  of  Indian  land  near, 
95;  garrison  at,  152;  Hull’s 
expedition  for  relief  of,  153; 
growth,  193 

Douglas,  S.  A.,  statesman  of 
Northwest,  183;  life,  184-87 
Duquesne,  Fort,  see  Pitt,  Fort 

East  Florida,  province  provided 
in  Proclamation  of  1763,  24, 
24  (note),  33;  plan  for  Spain 
to  resume  possession,  73 
Education  in  Northwest,  129- 
130,  170-71 

Erie  Canal  opened  (1825),  102, 
^  176 

Erie,  Lake,  French  settlement 
on,  2-3;  Perry’s  victory  on;  154 


Fallen  Timbers,  Battle  at,  92-94 
Flint,  Timothy,  Western  Monthly 
Review ,  169 

Florida,  see  East  Florida,  West 
Florida 

France  supports  Spain  in  her 
American  policy,  72-74 
Franklin,  Benjamin,  advice  to 
British  ministers,  20;  ac¬ 
quires  western  land,  38,  39; 
on  committee  for  boundary 
negotiation,  72,  74 
French  settlements  in  North¬ 
west,  2,  28-33;  Loftus’s  ex¬ 
pedition  against,  33-34;  under 
English  control,  36-37 
Fur  trade,  191-93 

Gage,  General  Thomas,  34,  36 
Galena  (Ill.),  195,  1^6 
Gallatin,  Albert,  164,  165 
Gallipolis,  attempt  to  build 
French  colony  at,  81 
Garfield,  J.  A.,  100 
Ghent,  Peace  of,  172 
Gibault,  Pierre,  French  priest, 
48,  55,  59,  62 
Gladwyn,  Major,  11,  12 
Gnadenhiitten,  massacre  at,  70 
Great  Britain  refuses  to  give 
up  fortified  posts,  83 
Greenville,  Fort,  91,  94;  Treaty 
^  of,  131 

Grenada,  province  provided  in 
Proclamation  of  1763,  24, 

24  (note) 

Grosseilliers,  see  Menard  des 
Grosseilliers 

Hamilton,  Henry,  Lieutenant- 
Governor  at  Detroit,  43;  and 
the  Indians,  47;  part  in  Revo¬ 
lution,  57  et  seq. 

Harmar,  General  Josiah,  80,  84, 
85 

Harmar,  Fort,  80 
Harrison,  W.  H.,  in  Northwest 
Territory,  131-32;  on  Indians. 
133-34;  conference  with  Te- 


INDEX 


217 


Harrison,  W.  H. — Continued 
cumseh,  139-40,  140-43;  at 
Tippecanoe,  144-47;  chief  in 
command  in  West,  153-54, 
156 

Harrison,  Fort,  144,  152 
Hayes,  R.  B.,  100 
Helm,  Lieutenant,  59 
Hennepin,  Louis,  190 
Henry,  Patrick,  49,  51 
Hillsborough,  Lord,  on  British 
policy  in  regard  to  Indian 
reservations,  26 
Howard,  Fort,  196 
Huguenots  forbidden  to  emi¬ 
grate,  29 

Hull,  General  William,  138,  153, 
156 

Illinois,  a  county  of  Virginia,  56; 
after  War  of  1812,  161;  ad¬ 
mitted  as  State  (1818),  161, 
177  (note);  immigration,  162; 
frontier  settlers  in,  173;  South¬ 
erners  in,  174-75;  population 
(1818),  177  (note);  indentures 
182;  slavery,  182-83 
Indiana,  settlement,  98;  formed 
from  part  of  Northwest  Terri¬ 
tory,  132;  population  (1800- 
10),  132-33;  (1810-16),  161; 
(1820),  177  (note);  after  War 
of  1812,  161;  admitted  as  State 
(1816),  161;  immigration,  162; 
frontier  settlers  in,  172;  South¬ 
erners  in,  174-75;  indentures, 
182;  slavery,  182 
Indianapolis,  Cumberland  Road 
reaches,  166;  capital  removed 
to  (1825),  177  (note) 

Indians,  parleys  with  Rogers, 
3-4;  incited  by  French  against 
English,  4;  relations  with 
French  at  Detroit,  5;  menace 
to  English,  7-8;  protest  against 
English  encroachments,  8-9; 
Pontiac’s  conspiracy.  9  et  seq.; 
method  of  warfare,  15;  trade 
with,  25,  44-45;  reservation  by 


Proclamation  of  1763,  25-27; 
attack  Croghan’s  band,  34- 
35;  in  Revolution,  45  et  seq .; 
massacre  at  Gnadenhiitten, 
70;  agreements  with,  78-79; 
rebel  against  Americans,  82- 
83;  incited  by  British,  83-84; 
punitive  expedition  against 
Miamis,  84-85 ;  Wayne  against, 
89  et  seq.;  danger  on  Ohio 
River  from,  108;  cessions  by, 
132,  135,  140;  relations  with 
white  settlers,  133-35;  Te- 
cumseh’s  conspiracy,  136  et 
seq.;  Battle  of  Tippecanoe, 
144-46;  raids  of  1812,  149; 
menace  removed  after  War  of 
1812,  160;  trouble  with  Winne- 
bagoes,  196-98;  Black  Hawk 
War,  200-03;  treaties,  206-07 
Iowa,  organized  as  Territory 
(1838),  208;  admitted  as  State 
(1846),  208 
Itasca,  Lake,  191 

Jay,  John,  72,  74 
Jay  Treaty,  94-95,  181 
Jefferson,  Thomas,  51,  67,  72, 164 
Jefferson  Barracks  (St.  Louis), 
203 

Jefferson  City  (Mo.),  Cumber¬ 
land  Road  marked  out  to,  166 
Johnson,  Allen,  Jefferson  and  his 
Colleagues  cited,  138  (note) 
Johnson,  Dr.  Samuel,  opinion  of 
Northwest  America,  21-22 
Johnson,  Sir  William,  visits  De¬ 
troit,  6;  Pontiac  surrenders  to, 
18;  sends  Croghan  against  In¬ 
dians,  34 

Johnson,  W.  S.,  39 
Johnston,  A.  S.,  201 
Joliet,  Louis,  189 

Kaskaskia,  French  settlement, 
28,  30;  under  English,  31; 
Clark  captures,  48,  52-53; 
Clark  at,  60-61;  British 
attack,  69 


218 


INDEX 


Kendall,  Amos,  quoted,  156 
Kentucky,  organized  as  county 
of  Virginia,  49;  frontier  settlers 
in,  172 

Keokuk,  Indian  chief,  198,  200, 
204 

Knox,  William,  British  Under¬ 
secretary  for  the  Colonies,  22 

Laclede,  Pierre,  32 
La  Mothe-Cadillac,  Antoine  de, 
founds  Detroit  (1701),  2 
La  Salle,  Rene-Robert  Cavelier, 
Sieur  de,  2 

Laulewasikaw,  “  Prophet,” 
Brother  of  Tecumseh,  135, 
147-48 

Laurens,  Henry,  72 
Le  Bceuf,  Fort,  14 
Lee,  “Light-Horse  Harry,”  89 
Leech  Lake,  Pike  reaches,  190 
Leopard-Chesapeake  affair,  138 
Lexington  (Ky.)»  aspires  to  be 
“Athens  of  the  West,”  171 
Lincoln,  Abraham,  184-88,  201 
Lincoln,  Thomas,  father  of  Abra¬ 
ham,  185 
Loftus,  Major,  33 
“Long  Knives,”  101 
L-os-anti-ville,  82;  see  also  Cin¬ 
cinnati 

Louisiana  Purchase,  161,  190 
Louisville  (Ky.),  education  in, 

171 

McAdam,  John,  devises  road 
construction,  165-66 
Mackinac,  Fort,  152,  153 
Malden,  Fort,  153 
Marietta  (O.),  founded,  81; 
settlers  from  New  England, 
99 

Marquette,  Jacques,  Jesuit  mis¬ 
sionary,  189 
Mason,  George,  51 
Massac,  Fort,  52 
Maysville  Road  Bill  (1830),  178 
Menard  des  Grosseilliers,  189 


Miami,  Fort,  88,  92 
Michilimackinac,  95 
Minnesota  organized  as  Terri¬ 
tory  (1849),  208 
Mississippi,  Georgians  in,  173 
Mississippi  Valley,  24-25 
Missouri,  population  of  Terri¬ 
tory  (1812-18),  161-62;  fron¬ 
tier  settlers  in,  173 
Monroe,  Fortress,  204 
Montreal,  fall  of  (1760),  1 

National  Road,  see  Cumberland 
Road 

New  England,  westward  migra¬ 
tion  from,  99,  175-77 
New  Orleans,  Indians  seek  equip¬ 
ment  at,  18;  Jackson’s  victory, 
159 

New  Orleans,  The,  first  steamboat 
in  West,  168 

Niagara,  council  with  Indians  at, 
17 

Northwest  Territory,  extent  of, 
1-2;  French  settlements,  2; 
Franklin  advises  British  to 
retain,  20;  ignorance  of  coun¬ 
try,  21-22;  questions  of  settle¬ 
ment  and  government,  22  et 
seq.;  settlement,  37  et  seq .; 
79-82;  Continental  Congress 
claims,  71;  Treaty  of  Paris 
gives  to  IJ.  S.,  75;  state  claims 
yield  to  nation,  77;  migration 
to,  97  et  seq.;  character  of 
country,  110-12;  pioneer  life, 
112  et  seq.;  in  War  of  1812, 
151  et  seq.;  loses  frontier  charac¬ 
ter,  162;  religion,  170;  educa¬ 
tion,  170-71;  sectionalism, 
173-74;  Southern  influence, 
176-77;  national  issues,  178- 
79;  form  of  government,  179- 
80;  slavery,  180-84;  explora¬ 
tions  upon  upper  Mississippi, 
189-91;  fur  trade,  191-93;  lead¬ 
mining,  194-95;  after  Black 
Hawk  War,  205-06;  Indian 
treaties,  206-08;  bibliography. 


INDEX  219 


Northwest  Territory — Cont'd 
211-14;  see  also  names  of 
States 

Ohio,  settlement,  98  et  seq. ; 
routes  to,  102,  et  seq.;  formed 
from  part  of  Northwest  Terri¬ 
tory,  132;  admitted  as  State 
(1802),  132,  165;  means  of 

transportation  in,  157;  fron¬ 
tier  settlers  in,  172;  Southern¬ 
ers  in,  174-75 
Ohio  Company,  39,  80-81 
Ohio  River,  emigrants  on,  106-09 
Ordinance  of  1787,  77-78,  131, 
180,  181,  182 

Oswego,  Pontiac  surrenders  at,  18 
Ottawa  (HI  ),  French  settlement 
near,  2 

Ouiatanon,  35 

Paine,  R.  D.,  The  Fight  for  a 
Free  Sea  cited,  153  (note) 
Paris,  Treaty  of  (1783),  20,  22,  75 
Parkman,  Francis,  quoted,  5-6, 
19,  32-33 

Perry,  Commodore  O.  H.,  154 
Pike,  Lieutenant  Z.  M.,  190 
Pitt,  Fort,  15,  16, 17,  34,  36 
Pittman,  Captain,  34 
Pontiac,  Indian  chief,  3;  con¬ 
spiracy,  9  et  seq.;  power 
broken,  17;  further  plots,  34; 
meets  Croghan,  35 
Presqu’isle  (Erie),  council  with 
Indians  at,  17 

Proclamation  of  1763,  24,  24 

(note),  41-42 

“Prophet,”  see  Laulewasikaw 
Prophet’s  Town,  139 
Putnam,  General  Rufus,  80,  81, 
82 

Quebec,  province  provided  under 
Proclamation  of  1763,  24, 

24  (note) 

Quebec  Act  (1774),  41-43 

Radisson,  Pierre,  189 
Raisin  River,  153 


Rayneval,  secretary  to  French 
Foreign  Minister,  74 
Recovery,  Fort,  91 
Red  Bird,  Indian  chief,  196,  197 
Revolution,  effects  on  West,  45 
Rocheblave,  commandant  at 
Kaskaskia,  54 
Rogers,  Major  Robert,  3,  4 
Roosevelt,  Theodore,  quoted,  61, 
156 

Sackville,  Fort,  55 
Saint  Ange  de  Bellerive,  18,  19, 
33,  36 

St.  Anthony,  Falls  of,  Henne¬ 
pin  reaches,  190 

St.  Clair,  General  Arthur,  81, 
84,  85-87,  89 
St.  Joseph,  Fort,  69-70 
St.  Louis,  French  settlement 
near,  2;  French  town,  18; 
established  (1764),  32;  Saint- 
Ange  retires  to,  36;  under 
Spanish  rule,  69;  education  in, 
171 

St.  Louis,  Fort,  2 
Ste.  Genevieve,  32 
Schoolcraft,  Henry,  191 
Scioto  Company,  81 
“Seven  Ranges,”  80,  99-100 
Sheridan,  Lieutenant-General 
P.  H.,  100 
Sherman,  John,  100 
Sherman,  General  W.  T.,  100 
Sinclair,  Lieutenant-Governor 
Patrick,  69 
Slavery,  180-84 
Snelling,  Fort,  196 
Spain,  cessions  to,  18,  28;  ally 
of  France,  69;  seizes  Fort 
St.  Joseph,  69-70;  American 
policy,  72-73;  plan  presented 
at  peace  negotiation,  73-74 
Stanwix,  Fort,  Treaty  of,  78 
“Starved  Rock,”  2 
Sterling,  Captain  Thomas,  36 
Stillman,  Major,  202 
Symmes,  Judge  J.  C.,  of  N.  J., 
82 


220 


INDEX 


Tariff,  attitude  of  Northwest 
toward,  178-79 
Taylor,  Zachary,  201 
Tecumseh,  plans  confederacy, 
135  et  seq.\  at  Prophet’s 
Town,  139;  confers  with  Harri¬ 
son  at  Vincennes,  139-40, 
140-43;  sympathy  with  Brit¬ 
ish,  148,  150;  joins  British 
in  1812,  152;  killed,  154 
Thames,  Battle  of  the,  154 
Tippecanoe,  Battle  of,  144-47 
Transportation,  difficulties,  163- 
64;  highways,  164-68;  stage 
lines,  167;  steamboats,  168- 
70;  Erie  Canal,  176;  roads  and 
canals,  178;  on  Mississippi 
River,  195 

Vandalia,  projected  colony,  39 
Vandalia  (Ill.),  Cumberland 
Road  graded  to,  166 
Vaudreuil,  Pierre  de  Rigaud, 
Marquis  de,  Governor  of 
Canada,  1,  3 
Venango,  Fort,  14 
Vergennes,  Charles  Gravier, 
Comte  de,  French  Foreign 
Minister,  74 
Vigo,  Frangois,  60-61 
Villiers,  Neyon  de,  31 
Vincennes,  French  colony,  2; 
under  British,  31;  surrenders 
to  Clark,  55;  captured  by 
British,  58-59;  Clark  retakes, 
63-66,  69;  Harrison  and  Te¬ 
cumseh  in  conference  at,  139- 
140,  140-43 


Wabash  Valley,  French  settle¬ 
ment  in,  2 

Waite,  Chief  Justice  M.  R.,  100 
Walpole,  Thomas,  39 
War  of  1812,  popular  in  West, 
151;  standing  army,  152; 
volunteers  called,  152;  in 
the  West,  153-54;  military 
organization,  154-56;  lack  of 
transportation  facilities,  157- 
158;  life  of  frontier  soldiers, 
158-59;  peace  (1815b  160 
Warrior,  The,  Government 
supply  steamer  in  Black 
Hawk  War,  203 

Washington,  George,  acquires 
western  land,  38-39 
Wayne,  “Mad  Anthony,”  89 
et  seq. 

Wayne,  Fort,  94,  152;  Treaty  of, 
135 

Wekau,  Indian  chief,  197 
Welby,  AdJard,  quoted,  163 
West  Florida,  province  provided 
under  Proclamation  of  1763, 
24,  24  (note),  33;  plan  for 
Spain  to  resume  possession 
of,  73 

Western  Reserve, 99, 102, 172, 175 
Wharton,  Samuel,  39 
Whistler,  Major,  196,  197 
Wilkinson,  General  James,  190 
Willing,  The,  Clark’s  boat,  61, 
64,  66,  67 

Winnebago,  Fort,  197 
Wisconsin  admitted  as  State 
(1848),  208 
Wythe,  George,  51 


